The City of Milwaukee is set to see a change in its election leadership ahead of the presidential election as Mayor Cavalier Johnson (D) announced the termination of Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg. Deputy Director Paulina Gutiérrez has been nominated to take over the role, having served as deputy for over a year.
The Democratic mayor did not provide a reason for dismissing Claire Woodall-Vogg.
The mayor released the following statement:
“Paulina’s integrity and capabilities are ideally suited to this position. She will lead the office at an important juncture when public scrutiny of the work of the department will be extremely high. I have confidence in her, and I will make certain the department has the resources it needs to fulfill its duties.”
How Did We Get Here?
The events that led to Woodall-Vogg’s termination trace back to the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. On the evening of November 3, 2020, then-President Donald Trump addressed the nation, expressing optimism after setting new voter turnout records in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Trump was leading in Wisconsin by 120,000 votes but warned of potential suspicious late-night ballot drops.
Despite early leads, Joe Biden managed to overcome a 4.1% Trump lead after a sudden influx of mail-in ballots. Media outlets reported that Wisconsin, largely thanks to Milwaukee, saw an 89% voter turnout, something that is unheard for in U.S. elections.
Claire Woodall-Vogg also was exchanging emails on election night allegedly joking about “delivering the margin needed” to flip the state from a large Trump win to a Biden victory.
In the email the sender, Ryan Chew, from the Election Group shared:
“Damn, Claire, you have a flair for drama, delivering just the margin needed at 3:00 am. I bet you had those votes counted at midnight, and just wanted to keep the world waiting.”
Woodall-Vogg then responded, “Lol [laughing out loud]. I just wanted to wait to say I had been awake for a full 24 hours!”
They were laughing about her late night ballot drop!
This email was sent around the same time a still unexplained drop of over 140,000 ballots for Joe Biden was dumped in Milwaukee in the wee hours of the morning.
Also, back in August, The Gateway Pundit reported that corrupt Milwaukee Election Director Claire Woodall-Vogg was giving daily reports on voting data to Democrat operative Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein and private liberal organizations before the election on exactly who was voting. This occurred in the run-up to the November election.
The MacIver Institute in Wisconsin gained access to the emails from Spitzer-Rubenstein and Woodall-Vogg. Woodall-Vogg admits to handing over the daily reports to the liberal groups.
Lost Flash Drive Incident
Central to the controversy was a lost flash drive containing crucial absentee voter information. In the early hours of November 4, Claire Woodall-Vogg realized she had misplaced the drive while en route to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to report the results of more than 169,000 absentee ballots collected in Milwaukee. The drive was eventually recovered by a Milwaukee police officer after it was found in a tabulator machine. However, the incident raised concerns about the integrity of the election process.
Sources within Milwaukee County law enforcement revealed the details to Wisconsin Right Now, who exclusively reported the incident. Woodall-Vogg wrote a letter to the Wisconsin Election Commission admitting the loss of the flash drive but asserting that the mishap did not alter the results of the election.
“A senior staff member removed the flash drive from the machine and handed it to a Milwaukee police officer, who delivered it to me 10 minutes later,” Woodall-Vogg explained in her letter. She added that the District Attorney’s office conducted an investigation to establish the chain of custody.
Unsupervised Ballot Counting
Further scrutiny was drawn to Woodall-Vogg after video footage surfaced of her feeding ballot totals into a machine in the early morning hours without election observers present. This act was criticized for violating protocol, prompting accusations of misconduct.
Reporters actually FILMED Milwaukee Election Commission Senior Executive Claire Woodall-Vogg feeding totals into a machine in the wee hours of the morning WITHOUT any election observers!
Milwaukee’s elections chief Claire Woodall-Vogg is in the process of putting the results from the machines that are finished onto encrypted flash drives that will be delivered – with police escort – to the county election commission to be put into the reporting system. pic.twitter.com/xWgXhsQjQn
— Bill Miston (@billmiston) November 4, 2020
Again, it appears the absentee vote counting is wrapping up here at the City of Milwaukee central count location. Election chief Woodall-Vogg is moving from machine to machine gathering the results. @fox6now pic.twitter.com/YgGNozYKdb
— Bill Miston (@billmiston) November 4, 2020
Since our reporting on The Gateway Pundit, Claire Woodall-Vogg claimed she was being threatened.
The FBI and Milwaukee Police Department investigate the claims.
WISN.com reported:
A wave of threatening e-mails and voicemails targeting the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission has gained the attention of investigators with the Milwaukee Police Department and FBI.
“I really sincerely hope you get what’s coming to you, you fraudulent (expletive),” one voicemail said.
The threats have targeted Claire Woodall-Vogg this past week after an e-mail exchange Election Night was obtained and published on the conservative websites Wisconsin Spotlight and Gateway Pundit.
Ryan Chew, with the Election Group, wrote at 4:07 a.m. Wednesday, “Damn, Claire you have a flair for drama, delivering just the margin needed at 3 a.m. I bet you had those votes counted at midnight, and just wanted to keep the world waiting!”
Woodall-Vogg responded several minutes later, “Lol. I just wanted to wait to say I had been awake for a full 24 hours!”
The e-mails and calls haven’t stopped since.
“We’re going to try you and we’re going to (expletive) convict your piece of (expletive) (expletive) and we’re going to hang you,” one caller said.
A spokesperson for MPD said the e-mails are being investigated by the department’s Fusion Division. Woodall-Vogg added the FBI is investigating too.
“I’m very concerned about the messages for her personally,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Friday. “I’m very concerned about the staff. There’s concerns in the office today about some disconcerting messages she’s received.”
Obviously, we do not approve of violence, nor do we call on our readers to commit any acts of violence. We also believe in election integrity.
The fake news CNN carried water for Claire Woodall-Vogg, defending her and running the alleged threats on their propaganda network.
CNN claims our reporting was a lie which is completely absurd and inaccurate. We included all of the screengrabs and videos with our reports on Woodall-Vogg; click here.
Wisconsin activist Peter Bernegger filed a criminal complaint against Claire Woodall-Vogg for her latest lawlessness.
Woodall-Vogg set up a tent in a back alley and sent two untrained Public Works employees and not trained election workers on August 9, 2022. The harvesters were collecting ballots from cars and were not asking where the ballots came from. There were no election observers at the location to oversee this travesty.
President of Election Watch, Peter Bernegger wrote on X, “laire Woodall-Vogg fired!!!! She is the (was) the most corrupt election clerk in Wisconsin. I took her sworn deposition in a lawsuit I filed against her as Milwaukee City election clerk. She printed 64,000 ballots in the back conference room of City Hall, Room 501. For the Nov.3rd 2020 election. She had city employees and others (CTCL) fill some of those out on the 4th, 6th and other floors of city hall. Then kicked out observers around 10-10:30pm on Nov.3rd. Then brought in large amounts of ballots at 1:15am on Nov. 4th. All illegal, unconstitutional – number one way however the liberals stole the Presidential election in 2020.”
BREAKING: Claire Woodall-Vogg fired!!!! She is the (was) the most corrupt election clerk in Wisconsin. I took her sworn deposition in a lawsuit I filed against her as Milwaukee City election clerk. She printed 64,000 ballots in the back conference room of City Hall, Room 501.…
— Peter Bernegger (@PeterBernegger) May 6, 2024