Close Race in Wisconsin Leads to Controversy Over Voter Fraud Claims

Election day turned into election week in 2020, as the presidential election took multiple days before the winner was announced.

On Saturday, Nov. 7, it was announced by the news media that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election after securing swing-state Pennsylvania, unofficially making them President-elect and Vice-President elect.

Before the announcement was made official, voters around America waited anxiously to find out whether Donald Trump would remain in office or if former Vice President Biden would take over.

“I think I watched more news this past week than I have all year,” Joe Wisniewski told Media Milwaukee.

On Election night and late into Wednesday morning, Biden and Trump spoke to the nation, both stating that they believe they will win the election, with Donald Trump owning swing states including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

As the nation woke up Wednesday, the script was beginning to flip. Biden was pulling WIsconsin and Michigan closer as mail-in ballots were being counted. By the end of the day Wednesday, both states were called for Biden, giving him 26 electoral votes that Trump won in 2016.

While Biden supporters were celebrating the two big state victories, Trump supporters began to back their President as he indicated voter fraud in some states. One of those states was Wisconsin.

In a tweet the day after Election Day, President Trump said that states including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were “finding Biden votes all over the place,” leading to controversy throughout the nation.

This tweet, along with others, had some of his followers disappointed with the counting process.

“I wasn’t too happy,” Wisniewski said. “How is Trump going to be looking at a certain victory, then suddenly a bunch of votes magically appear for Biden?”

While some voters backed President Trump, others refuted his statements, referring to absentee and mail-in voting as the reason for votes being counted and helping Biden’s case.

“The President told his followers to vote in person on Election Day,” Lexi Smith said. “I know a lot of people who voted for Biden and mailed in their votes, but not a lot of people who voted for Trump who did the same.”

According to apnews.com, over 1.9 million voters in Wisconsin voted early, accounting for almost 60 percent of the near 3.3 million votes that were cast in Wisconsin.

Smith was among the group of people who voted early, stating that the current COVID-19 Pandemic was a big reason as to why she did that.

“This was my first ever Presidential Election that I got to vote in,” Smith said. “It would have been cool to experience the polls, but I wanted to be safe, and to do that, I had to mail my vote in.”

Others opted to vote in person on Election Day. Ashley McKinley said she waited over an hour to cast her vote.

“I just really wanted to make sure my vote counted and I didn’t trust that via mail,” McKinley said.

McKinley voted in at the Greenfield Community Center, where the line wrapped around the building. She said the despite the long wait, the process went smoothly.

“I think that the poll workers really did a great job at keeping things moving,” McKinley said. “This line is huge, but it’s moving quickly and people are going to get to make their voices heard”

Despite the Election being called for President-elect Biden, President Trump has not yet conceded and is planning to take the election to the Supreme Court.

Some do not think that the President should take the Election to the Supreme Court, including some of his own supporters.

“I voted for him back 2016 and voted for him again this year, but come on man.” McKinley said. “It’s over.”

Others said that they support his decision and he should not concede.

“Why just give up?” Wisniewski said. “He can still win this election.

If the result stands through President Trump’s lawsuits, the inauguration for President-elect Biden and President-elect Harris will be held on Jan. 20, 2021.