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The Republicans Trying to Overhaul Elections in Wisconsin Are Getting Support in Washington

“Wisconsinites just don’t have confidence in the fairness of our elections,” said Sen. Ron Johnson.

Voters wait in line outside a polling center on Election Day on Nov. 3, 2020 in Kenosha, WI.
Voters wait in line outside a polling center on Election Day on Nov. 3, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wong Maye-E/AP

Some key Wisconsin Republicans in Congress, staring down another pivotal campaign year in their swing state, are allying with a group of their state legislators in a push to disband or radically alter the agency that oversees Wisconsin’s elections.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission “is out of control. And I don’t think it should be there,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden told NOTUS.

The effort is the culmination of years of partisan squabbling over election security and supposed fraud — the trickle-down impact of messaging from national Republicans, most prominently former President Donald Trump. And it could have a substantial impact on how people vote in one of the most crucial states in this year’s elections, in both the race for the White House and control of Congress.