In December of 2023, the 10 so-called “fake electors” who had cast Wisconsin Electoral College ballots for Donald Trump three years earlier agreed that their action was not appropriate. After a civil suit was filed against them on behalf of legitimate Democratic electors, they agreed to not serve as electors in 2024 or whenever Trump is on the ballot as a presidential candidate.
The original action occurred at noon on Monday, December 14 in 2020. That is when electors for the winning presidential party in every state sign the paperwork which is then forwarded to the United States Congress for certification several weeks later (on January 6, 2021 in this case).
An hour earlier on December 14, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had denied the Trump campaign’s latest request to overturn Joseph Biden’s electoral victory in the state. A pending appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (later dismissed) was the remaining thread on which the “fake electors” justified their action.
These 10 Republicans gathered in and disgraced the state Capitol, still closed to the public because of COVID restrictions. The “fake elector” signing was overseen by attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a similar scheme in Georgia.
Their access to the Capitol was reportedly arranged by recently elected Cong. Scott Fitzgerald – the state senate majority leader at the time. He has escaped scrutiny for this incident. The legitimate Democratic electors met in a different room in the Capitol.
The most forthcoming Wisconsin “fake elector” is Andrew Hitt, the Republican Party state chairman at the time. On CBS’s “60 Minutes” on February 18, he said he was somewhat dubious about the scheme. Hitt was not aware then that it was part of a multi-pronged, multi-level, multi-state effort by the Trump campaign to overturn the national election result. He (and similar electors in other states) say they were “tricked.”
Hitt felt pressured to be a “fake elector” because of the last ditch but slim possibility that a court would yet rule in Trump’s favor and that he would have prevented Trump from earning Wisconsin’s electoral votes even if a court ruled in his favor.
Hitt feared for his safety and that of his family had that been the case – similar to the threats, harassment, and attempted intimidation that Trump’s legions are launching against multiple prosecutors, judges, court staffs, witnesses, jurors, elected state officials, election workers, FBI agents, and even Republicans (just ask Oklahoma senator James Lankford and Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher) – anyone who doesn’t totally agree with Trump, anyone with a spine.
While the “fake electors” could be excused in part for wanting to escape blame for not having signed Trump electoral ballots and for being kept in the dark (as Hitt suggested) about the larger scheme, what happened next was not excusable.
Wisconsin Republican senator Ron Johnson admits to “a few seconds” of involvement in the scheme. An aide intended to deliver the Wisconsin fake ballots (and those from Michigan “fake electors”) just minutes before Congress was to convene for the certification on January 6.
Johnson had persisted even after multiple court appeals were all but exhausted. If he wasn’t aware of what his aide was doing, then he was negligent. Complicit or negligent – take your choice.
During an interview with Kaitlan Collins on CNN, Johnson claimed that Democrats had often carried out “fake elector” efforts. That is false.
The only somewhat similar occurrence was in Hawaii during 1960. On December 14, a recount was continuing in the new state. At the time, Richard Nixon held a slight lead but it was possible that John Kennedy would win.
Both political parties and state officials agreed to create two slates of potential electors. As it turned out, Kennedy won the state and the Democrats met again to approve their electors.
Johnson might have been referring to the several Democratic members of Congress who, over the years, objected to electoral votes for Republican candidates. What Johnson conveniently forgot was that in January of 2021 there were 147 Republican members of Congress who objected to the certification of the electoral ballots for Joseph Biden.