Wisconsin GOP Assemblyman: ‘Biden Will Be President When Processes Finish’

(Beaver Dam) State Representative Mark Born has confidence in the election process in Wisconsin and around the country.

“I certainly haven’t seen anything that I expect to overturn the election here in Wisconsin and I certainly haven’t seen anything in other state’s that is likely to do that either,” he says, “I certainly expect that Joe Biden will be president when these processes are all finished.”

Born told us Friday on WBEV’s Community Comment that it is appropriate for politicians to exercise their right to use the legal process of seeking recounts.

“Ultimately, it’s good for democracy to show, when we do these reviews and these audits, what the outcomes are and if there are any problems they get exposed and they can be fixed and if there are no problems then it confirms the process,” he says.

Born, who is in his fifth term in the legislature and serves on the powerful Joint Finance Committee, says he understands the frustration of Trump supporters and saw the same thing four years ago with Clinton voters. He says both scenarios are concerning for our democracy. The Beaver Dam Republican says voter fraud is rare but as irregularities are encountered, it is up to state legislatures to find solutions to mitigate such problems.

“Overall, I think we have a really good system in Wisconsin,” he says, “We’ve spent a lot of time in the legislature in the last couple years putting accountability measures in place, making sure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat in Wisconsin.”

President Trumps current strategy is reported to involve asking Republican-controlled legislatures in swing states like Wisconsin to appoint electors favorable to the current administration. Born says there is no chance of that being successful because there is no mechanism for such a scenario in Wisconsin, or any other state. He contends under Wisconsin law it is “crystal clear” that the winner of the election gets the state’s ten electoral votes. The elections board, under authority granted by state statute, then certifies the winner. The role of the legislature, and the governor, he says are merely “ceremonial.”

“The [US] Constitution is correct, the legislature has that power but the legislature in every state in the union has put in place laws,” Born says referencing legal counsel memos, “Early on, legislators did vote electoral but since then every state has put in place a law on how it works. There is no way for the legislature or the governor to have any role whatsoever in that system under current law.”