Saturday, July 18, 2026
Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Monday, May 18, 2026
Gov. Tony Evers says Wisconsin is prepared for any FBI election probe
Molly Beck
MADISON - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says he has not been made aware of any "widespread" Federal Bureau of Investigation effort to probe the 2020 presidential election in this battleground state but has measures in place to respond if one materializes.
Evers made the comments days after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported FBI agents had questioned a top state election official and have sought interviews with people who helped administer Milwaukee's 2020 election.
It's so far unclear what the goals are of the questions.
A spokeswoman for the FBI has repeatedly declined to answer questions about the probe's scope and purpose. But sources told the Journal Sentinel the FBI's interview with Wisconsin Elections Commission deputy administrator Robert Kehoe focused on how elections work in Wisconsin and debunking conspiracy theories about the 2020 election in the state.
"No, I'm not," Evers told WISN 12 News political reporter Matt Smith when asked if Evers was aware of "widespread FBI activity here in the state."
"I haven't heard it, but we are adequately prepared and I won't tell you what pieces are in place but we're prepared to make sure that our elections happen safely," Evers said about November's elections.
"We have plans to, if they show up, we will be there to make sure that they are asking for what they have access to but also making sure that they're not doing what they shouldn't do," he said.
The Wisconsin probe comes after federal officials in January seized hundreds of boxes of ballots related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, and after the FBI issued a grand jury subpoena in March for voting information in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin have all been central to Trump's false claims that he won the 2020 election. Trump has insisted, without evidence, that former President Joe Biden didn’t win in Wisconsin that year.
A recount in two Wisconsin counties that Trump's campaign paid for, court rulings, a state audit and a conservative review have confirmed that Trump lost. Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes.
Officials in Wisconsin – and especially Milwaukee – have been bracing for an investigation.
If federal officials advance an investigation of the 2020 election in Milwaukee, it's possible that poll books and nearly 180,000 absentee ballots with attached ID numbers could be turned over to investigators. Since state law requires absentee ballots counted at a central counting facility to include poll list numbers, the data could be matched with poll book information to identify voters.
Ballots from the 2020 election typically would have been destroyed by now. But Milwaukee's 2020 ballots still exist, partly because of a lawsuit filed against the city by a New London man who has sued state and local election officials over the 2020 election and related issues.
Sources told the Journal Sentinel earlier this month no ballots have been seized by the FBI.
Agents sought to question one of Milwaukee County's top election officials about the 2020 presidential election at her home last week. Evers said the agents' decision to visit her home was "bizarre."
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
'PO'd' Evers vows to resist any FBI effort to seize Milwaukee ballots
Molly Beck
MADISON - Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said his administration will resist any efforts by the FBI to seize voting documents if federal authorities expand their probe of the 2020 presidential election to Wisconsin.
Evers made his comments after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported a potential threat to Milwaukee voters' right to a secret ballot.
The FBI in recent weeks has seized voting data in two battleground states where President Donald Trump lost reelection in 2020. If the FBI takes its effort to relitigate the 2020 presidential election to Milwaukee County, federal authorities will be able to figure out how tens of thousands of residents there voted because of a state law that sets Wisconsin apart from other battleground states.
The law requires poll workers to affix a voter number to all absentee ballots counted in a central counting facility, which exist in Milwaukee and more than three dozen other Wisconsin municipalities.
And because Milwaukee election officials have not yet destroyed the 2020 presidential election ballots, those voter numbers could be matched against poll book information to determine which candidate voters picked that year if such voting documents are seized.
So far, there has not been any movement in Wisconsin by federal authorities on this front.
“In this state, Wisconsinites have a constitutional right to cast a secret ballot, and that’s something we take really seriously — even Kathy and I don’t always talk about who we vote for," Evers told the Journal Sentinel in a statement, referring to his wife.
"So, the idea that the state should somehow turn over sensitive voter information and documents that could enable the federal government to know how Wisconsinites voted and who they voted for is wrong, and we’ll continue fighting to protect Wisconsinites’ right to vote by secret ballot."
"We want to keep our elections safe and secure, and caving to the Trump administration’s demand will do the exact opposite. That’s something we’re going to fight all the way.”
The Democratic governor said he would sign a repeal of the state law that requires absentee ballots in central counting facilities to include a voter identification number given clerks' support for doing so.
But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he wants to keep the law in place as an added safeguard.
"It’s important we don’t eliminate any law that will prevent double voting or allow anyone here illegally to cast a vote," Vos said in a statement.
"Our number one priority should be keeping our elections secure and ensuring our citizens trust the system."
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu did not respond to questions about the matter.
State and local election officials were on alert Monday after the FBI issued a grand jury subpoena for voting information in Maricopa County, Arizona − the second battleground state where federal authorities have compelled the release of records related to the 2020 election.
In late January, federal investigators seized hundreds of boxes related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia.
Election officials are bracing for the probe to expand to Milwaukee, where Trump has repeatedly leveled baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election − including on the night of the election, when it became clear Trump would lose.
'It gets me PO'd,' Tony Evers says of election conspiracy theories
"It gets me PO’d when President Trump lies and spreads baseless conspiracy theories about Wisconsin’s elections, because what he’s doing is attacking the integrity and hard work of Wisconsinites across our state," Evers said.
Absentee voting skyrocketed in the 2020 presidential election because of the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, which pushed people to avoid public places. In Milwaukee, nearly 180,000 people voted absentee.
Following Trump's loss, his campaign paid for a recount in the liberal Dane and Milwaukee counties and unsuccessfully sought to throw out all absentee ballots cast in those counties, which would have overturned the election result.
Trump continues to falsely claim he won Wisconsin's 2020 presidential contest, despite court rulings and audits showing otherwise.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
Posts
