Paul Cites Distortion to Argue ‘Two Sides’ in Election Fraud Debate

In calling for a “thorough investigation” into “election fraud,” Republican Sen. Rand Paul distorted the facts about a Wisconsin policy that was introduced by Republicans and put in place before the 2016 general election.

In Paul’s telling, “In Wisconsin, tens of thousands of absentee votes had only the name on them and no address. Historically those were thrown out, this time they weren’t.” Paul claimed elections officials “made special accommodations because they said, ‘Oh, it’s a pandemic and people forgot what their address was.’ … So they changed the law after the fact.”

That’s not accurate.

Although Paul wasn’t clear, the issue is not about missing voter address information — but rather with missing address information from witnesses. In Wisconsin, those who vote via mail-in absentee ballot are required to have a witness — a family member, friend or neighbor — sign the outside of an absentee certificate envelope. In addition to signing the envelope, witnesses are required to provide their addresses.

What happens is that some witnesses provide incomplete address information — most often leaving off their municipality.

According to provided by the Wisconsin Elections Commission — put in place prior to the 2016 presidential election — election clerks “must take corrective actions in an attempt to remedy a witness address error.”