In an unexpected development, Milwaukee's mayor has removed the city's election leader, a mere six months before the 2024 election, when Wisconsin's largest city becomes pivotal in the swing state.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson declared on Monday that he would be replacing Claire Woodall, the Executive Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, with her deputy, Paulina Gutierrez.
Flashback to the evening of November 3, 2020, President Trump addressed the nation, expressing optimism after record voter turnout in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Despite leading in Wisconsin by 120,000 votes, Trump cautioned about potential suspicious late-night ballot drops.
Claire Woodall-Vogg was reportedly exchanging emails on election night, purportedly making jokes about “delivering the margin needed” to shift the state's outcome from a significant Trump victory to a Biden win.
This email was sent around the same time as a still unexplained surge of over 140,000 ballots for Joe Biden, which appeared in Milwaukee in the early hours of the morning.
In August, The Gateway Pundit also reported that Milwaukee Election Director Claire Woodall-Vogg was allegedly providing daily reports on voting data to Democrat operative Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein and private liberal organizations prior to the November election.
The decision to oust Woodall-Vogg was motivated by “internal issues within the election commission office and city government that raised concerns,” stated the mayor's spokesperson, Jeff Fleming. However, he refrained from disclosing the specifics of these issues.
The change occurred a week following the sentencing of Woodall's former deputy, Kimberly Zapata, who received probation and a $3,000 fine after being convicted of misconduct in office and fraud for acquiring counterfeit absentee ballots. Zapata contended that she acted as a whistleblower, revealing weaknesses in the state's election system.
Gutierrez has served as a staff member at the city election commission for just over a year. According to Fleming, Neil Albrecht, who headed the office for 15 years before retiring in May 2020, has volunteered to offer his assistance. Woodall succeeded Albrecht in 2020 and had been leading the office until the recent change.
Milwaukee has been a focal point in Wisconsin, a state renowned for closely contested elections. Over the past six presidential contests, four have been decided by margins of less than a percentage point.
