MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Elections Commission issued an order Thursday to recount more than 800,000 ballots cast in two heavily liberal counties at President Donald Trump’s request.
The order, required by law after Trump paid $3 million for the recount, was agreed to after rancorous debate for more than five hours Wednesday night that foreshadows the partisan battle ahead.
The recounts in Milwaukee and Dane counties, where Joe Biden outpolled Trump by a more than 2-to-1 margin, will begin Friday and must be completed by Dec. 1. Milwaukee County officials said they plan to finish the recount by Wednesday. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell has not provided an estimated completion date.
That should have been the story. That’s really all the “news” the story contains.
But instead AP wanted to add in a bunch of commentary from Democrats, because Democrats are Trusted and Reputable Sources Without a Whiff of Partisan Bias. I’ll quote the article just so you can see how heavily skewed it is toward the Democratic side:
“It’s just remarkable the six of us in a civilized fashion can’t agree to this stuff,” Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen said hours into the debate. The commission is split 3-3 between Democrats and Republicans.
First quote of the article goes to a Democrat. No surprise there, but note that the commission is split down the middle.
The article continues:
Biden won statewide by 20,608 votes. Trump’s campaign has cited “irregularities” in the counties, although no evidence of illegal activity has been presented.
No EVIDENCE of any Russian Collusion was ever “presented” but the media still pretended it was 100% for four years.
“We understand the eyes of the world will be on these Wisconsin counties over the next few weeks,” Meagan Wolfe, Wisconsin’s top elections official, said Thursday. “We look forward to again demonstrating the strength, security, integrity and transparency of our election systems in Wisconsin.”
AP didn’t include any information on Wolfe’s partisan affiliation, and I couldn’t find anything on her leanings after doing a brief search. But the fact that she used a Sorkinesque phrase like “the eyes of the world will be on these Wisconsin counties” indicates she’s a lib. That’s such a lib thing to say. “The right side of history,” “the world will be watching,” etc. etc. Plus the fact that she pre-emptively declared the Wisconsin election system as one of “integrity” and “transparency” only adds to the evidence that she’s a Dem and eager to declare that the SCIENCE IS SETTLED, so shut up.
The commission argued over changes to its manual that provides guidance to local elections officials over how to conduct recounts. Ultimately, they decided not to reference the manual in the order, but they did update some parts to reflect accommodations for the coronavirus pandemic.
The commissioners deadlocked on making changes to the manual that Democrats and elections commission staff said would bring the guidance into line with current state law. Republicans balked, saying the guidelines should not be changed after Trump filed for the recount.
The commission deadlocked on making changes to the manual that DEMOCRATS said would be the guidance into line with current state law.
Again, you’re only getting one side of the story: the Democrats’. To AP, that’s all that matters. Democrats are right and just and perfect and honorable.
Wonder what the Republicans thought about the matter? AP doesn’t think you need to know.
Their inability to agree leaves in place guidance that says absentee ballot applications must be approved as part of the recount, even though commission staff said that’s not required under the law.
Democratic commissioners said they were certain the recount was headed to court even though Trump’s claims were without merit.
More one-sided “reporting.” So because DEMOCRATS say Trump’s claims have no merit, that’s good enough for AP?
Hey, if a DEMOCRAT says it, that’s good enough for me. That settles it. Let’s move along here and get this thing wrapped up.
Board Chair Ann Jacobs, a Democrat, said Trump’s allegation that election clerks mailed thousands of absentee ballots to voters who hadn’t requested them was “absurd,” “factually bizarre” and a “vague, paranoid conspiracy.”
“What we ought not be doing is watering that plant of baloney,” she said.
Another quote from a DEMOCRAT.
Ah, here we go. 13 paragraphs in and we finally get a quote from a Republican:
Republican commissioners Dean Knudson and Bob Spindell questioned whether election observers would be treated fairly by Democratic county clerks in Milwaukee and Madison. At one point, Knudson even appeared to question whether absentee ballots requested through the elections commission’s state website were invalid because of how the requests are recorded.
“I hope we haven’t created a system at WEC that entices people to request a ballot that actually isn’t in keeping with the law,” he said.
One sentence for the Republicans, and even that the AP tried to frame as grossly unreasonable. WHAT? That Republican really just tried to say absentee ballots requested through the elections commission’s state website are invalid?!?!!?
Knudson, a former state lawmaker, has been on the commission since 2017 and like many office holders in Wisconsin encouraged voters to sign up for absentee ballots on the website. In August, he tweeted a link to the site along with the exhortation to “request absentee ballot now.”
Democrats dismissed Knudson’s concerns as outlandish, noting that the system has been in place unchallenged for years.
Yes, let’s hear more from DEMOCRATS. We haven’t heard enough from them in this article.
So basically the format goes like this:
- Unchallenged claim by a Democrat
- Another unchallenged claim by a Democrat
- Yet another unchallenged claim by a Democrat
- Misrepresented claim by a Republican
- Democratic rebuke of the Republican claim
By this point it’s clear which side AP considers the “good guys” and which side they consider the “bad guys.” Because everything must be presented to their target audience with the Manichean simplicity of a Disney movie.
The article continues:
Thomsen said Trump was challenging the validity of the election only because he lost, but he had no problem with Wisconsin’s election rules in 2016 when he won by fewer than 23,000 votes.
Oh, look at that: another quote from a Democrat, which is 100% opinion, yet treated as more credible and unassailable than the Gospel of Luke.
No shit Trump is only challenging the results because he lost. Why would a candidate that won challenge the results?
They’re leaving out the reason Trump “lost”: rampant voter fraud. If he thinks that’s why he lost, then he has every right to challenge that and present his case.
If you thought that was it, here comes the best part, which no mainstream media article in 2020 could omit: an accusation of RAAAAAAAAACISM.
Milwaukee County is the state’s largest, home to the city of Milwaukee, and Black people make up about 27% of the population, more than any other county.
Hint hint.
Dane County is home to the liberal capital city of Madison and the flagship University of Wisconsin campus.
How dare those dastardly Republicans try to invalidate the votes of such an esteemed institute of higher learning!
The disputes at the commission had echoes of what happened in Michigan on Tuesday. Republicans on a canvassing board for the county that includes Detroit temporarily stopped certification of the vote after claiming that poll books in certain parts of the majority-Black city were out of balance. The deadlock brought claims of racism from Democrats before the board later voted unanimously to certify the results. The Republicans said they want to change their stance again, but officials said certification of the vote will stand.
Republican officials tried to do the same thing in Michigan, but Democrats quickly shut that down because REPUBLICANS ARE RACIST!
Thank God for Democrats. They’re truly angels living among us.
And that’s the whole article.
That’s the American mainstream media for you, right there.
Now do you see how and why there are so many brainwashed people in this country? Imagine if you didn’t have any critical thinking skills and you trusted the media, and you read that article.
Wouldn’t you probably be a Democrat, too?
The pro-Democrat bias in this country is relentless and pervasive. They never, ever stop. And they’re completely shameless about it, too.