Election officials across Wisconsin receive subpoenas in GOP 2020 election probe

The head of a Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin served subpoenas Friday to election officials in Green Bay, Racine and Milwaukee, along with the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, asking for an array of documents related to the election.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, confirmed Friday he signed election-related subpoenas.

The documents are the first issued in an ongoing inquiry called by Vos and led by Michael Gableman, a former conservative state Supreme Court justice.

“Ensuring the 2020 election was conducted fairly and legally is critically important to maintaining faith in our election system,” Vos said in a prepared statement. “Assembly Republicans will continue to work with Justice Gableman to ensure confidence is fully restored in our elections.”

Green Bay clerk Celestine Jeffreys confirmed Friday her office had received a subpoena that morning. Milwaukee Election Commission executive director Claire Woodall-Vogg also confirmed Friday that her office received a subpoena.

Meanwhile, Racine received two subpoenas, one for city clerk Tara Coolidge and another for Vicky Selkowe, a manager of strategic initiatives and community partnerships in the mayor’s office.

Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe also received a subpoena, though its delivery was not confirmed until later Friday afternoon. Elections commission staff attorney Jim Witecha, speaking on behalf of the agency, declined to comment.

An earlier report from WISN Radio in Milwaukee said city clerks in Kenosha and Madison received subpoenas, but Madison city clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl indicated in an email Friday morning that her office had “not received anything at this point.”

The subpoenas come after Gableman said in a September video his investigation “will request (documents) from those (election) officials and others with potential knowledge of unlawful actions, and will compel them if necessary to produce documents and testimony.”

Gableman has said the investigation isn’t challenging the results of the 2020 election. The investigation follows in the wake of similar reviews in states like Arizona. Gableman was among a group of Wisconsin political figures who traveled to Arizona to learn more about that state’s discredited audit.

President Joe Biden won Wisconsin in the November election by 20,682 votes, according to a Nov. 30 report from the Wisconsin Elections Commission following a limited recount. An audit by that agency of some voting machines following the election found no problems.

Editor’s note: This story will be updated.