2020 election, Milwaukee absentee ballots, Foxconn: A look back at our Trump fact-checks
When former President Donald Trump takes the stage in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention, he’ll be returning to a city and a state that has been the subject of many of his false claims.
Many of Trump’s claims that PolitiFact Wisconsin has checked are about the 2020 election: From whether he won the state that year (he didn’t) to whether absentee ballots in Milwaukee were fraudulent (they weren’t).
Some of those falsehoods may be repeated at the RNC — on stage, on camera or elsewhere.
Let’s take a look back at our fact-checks of things Trump has said about Wisconsin.
1. Trump did not win Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election
Let’s start with a falsehood that Trump has often repeated: that he won the battleground state of Wisconsin in 2020.
Ahead of his first Wisconsin rally of this campaign cycle in Green Bay, Trump said “we did much better” in 2020 compared to 2016. He said something similar at a rally in Racine last month.
But that’s not true: Trump did win Wisconsin in 2016 by more than 22,000 votes, but he lost in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes.
PolitiFact Wisconsin also checked this claim in 2021, outlining how recounts in heavily Democratic Milwaukee and Dane counties only led to Trump falling further behind President Joe Biden. We checked it in 2020, too.
2. No ‘ballot dump’ in Milwaukee, Republicans rejected processing absentee ballots earlier
Trump often focuses his claims of fraud in the 2020 election on Milwaukee’s absentee ballots.
Around 3:30 a.m. the morning after Election Day, Milwaukee reported its absentee ballot results, which heavily favored Biden.
That led to claims about “voter fraud” or a “ballot dump.” Trump claimed the totals came when Milwaukee “learned (Biden) was losing badly.”
It’s not a surprise that Milwaukee voted heavily for Biden — it’s a longtime Democratic stronghold.
But the timing element is important here: The Milwaukee Election Commission said months before the election that they probably wouldn’t finish counting absentee ballots until the early morning hours.
That’s because Wisconsin law doesn’t allow clerks to start processing absentee ballots until Election Day, and Milwaukee had a lot of those ballots in 2020 during the pandemic.
Ahead of the 2024 election, a group of bipartisan lawmakers tried again to allow clerks to start processing absentee ballots a day early to prevent perceptions of a ballot dump. The measure passed the Assembly, but got held up by Republicans in the Senate.
Trump also claimed that a Milwaukee election official “acknowledged dropping off just the margin of ballots needed for a Biden win at 3:00 a.m.”
The Milwaukee Election Commission’s Claire Woodall — who has since been replaced — had responded to an email from an election consultant who said Woodall delivered the margin at 3 a.m.
Woodall later called the email "a very inappropriate joke" but not evidence of an attempt to steer the election to Biden.
3. Other false claims about 2020 election, including that Republicans didn’t investigate
Trump has also incorrectly claimed that a 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that declared drop boxes illegal applied retroactively to the 2020 election.
It didn’t. And the court reversed that decision earlier this month, allowing for drop boxes in Wisconsin this fall.
Trump also missed the mark when he said Republican lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, were “working hard to cover up election corruption in Wisconsin.”
In fact, Republican leaders did take steps to investigate the 2020 election – and faced criticism for using taxpayer dollars to do so.
They requested an audit by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, and Vos hired former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman to investigate the election.
Gableman’s review cost nearly $2.5 million while turning up little new information and failing to show evidence that the 2020 election was incorrectly called.
4. Trump was correct on absentee ballot ‘spoiling’, but that’s since changed
Looking back in our PolitiFact Wisconsin archives, Trump was right about one aspect of absentee voting in Wisconsin — at the time.
In the final week of his 2016 campaign, Trump said Wisconsin is “is one of several states where you can change your early ballot if you think you've made a mistake.”
That process is known as “spoiling” and was an option for voters who made a mistake or changed their mind about who they voted for. That typically involved contacting or visiting the clerk’s office to request a new ballot.
Trump was correct when he made that claim in 2016. But the latest guidelines say clerks cannot “return or spoil an otherwise complete, undamaged absentee ballot that was properly previously returned by an elector.”
So, as long as the absentee ballot is complete and in acceptable condition, the voter can’t possess the ballot again. That guidance changed after a Republican-backed group challenged Wisconsin’s spoiling process in court.
5. Trump missed when blaming Foxconn’s failures on pandemic
Let’s move on from Trump’s election claims and focus on another topic familiar to Wisconsin voters: Foxconn.
About two years after Trump attended the groundbreaking for the tech company, he was asked in a local interview about Foxconn’s lack of progress toward its promises, such as creating up to 13,000 jobs.
"No. 1, you had a pandemic,” Trump said as an explanation. But Foxconn began falling short long before the pandemic started in 2020.
“The pre-pandemic job creation numbers submitted by Foxconn for 2018 and 2019 fell short of the minimum for each year,” a statement from WEDC Secretary and CEO Missy Hughes said in part.
Since then, Biden’s campaign has contrasted the unfulfilled promises of Foxconn with the expansion of Microsoft’s data center in Mount Pleasant, which is being built on the land that Foxconn was initially expected to use.
6. Trump has falsely taken credit for ‘saving’ Kenosha during violent unrest in 2020
Here’s a claim Trump repeated at his rally in Racine earlier this summer: that he “saved” Kenosha and the “governor wouldn’t move” on sending the National Guard. We checked a similar claim in 2020.
Kenosha was rocked by civil unrest in 2020 after a police officer shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, seven times. The officer was not criminally charged.
PolitiFact Wisconsin pointed out three things: protests occurred in a limited area compared to the entire city, other factors like a drop in the number of people with firearms reduced violence, and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called in the National Guard before the Trump administration got involved.
After the Kyle Rittenhouse shootings, Evers increased National Guard troop numbers from 250 to 500. Evers also accepted federal troops from the Trump administration, after initially turning down federal help.
7. Trump’s claim about sanctuary cities in Wisconsin has some nuance
You can bet that immigration will be a topic of discussion at the RNC. And Trump has made claims about “sanctuary cities” in Wisconsin that fell in the middle of the Truth-O-Meter.
At a 2020 rally in Milwaukee, Trump claimed Madison and Milwaukee County both carried sanctuary status for undocumented immigrants.
Neither the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County or Madison were formally considered “sanctuary cities,” and there’s nothing to indicate that’s changed. As we noted previously, “sanctuary city” is a political term, rather than a legal one.
But those local governments have adopted policies to protect immigrants that fit the meaning of the term, such as Milwaukee Public Schools declaring itself a “safe haven” for undocumented students and families.
Trump also claimed the two cities have released undocumented immigrants who have committed multiple crimes, including sexual assault.
There was a case in Dane County that matched that claim, but Trump’s team never provided specifics about cases in Milwaukee and local officials did not have enough information to determine what he was referring to.
8. Trump wasn’t the first Republican to win Wisconsin since Eisenhower
Finally, here’s an interesting look back at the state’s Republican voting history ahead of the RNC.
In 2018, Trump claimed his 2016 victory in Wisconsin was the first time a Republican had won the state since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952. He also claimed Ronald Reagan didn’t win Wisconsin.
Both his claims were false. Wisconsin did vote for Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956. But then Wisconsin voted for Richard Nixon in 1960, 1968 and 1972 and for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.
Sources
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Ahead of first 2024 rally in Wisconsin, Trump repeats false claims that he won the state in 2020, April 1, 2024.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Déjà vu all over again as former President Trump wrongly claims Wisconsin victory, July 6, 2021.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Recount finds Trump did not win Wisconsin, despite his victory claim, Dec. 9, 2020.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Trump again flat wrong with claims about Wisconsin voter fraud, Nov. 20, 2020.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Senate leader prepared to let Monday 'ballot dump' measure die despite previous support, Feb. 26, 2024.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, No, Milwaukee election official didn’t admit to delivering just enough ballots for a Biden win, Aug. 23, 2021.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson replaces elections chief Claire Woodall, May 6, 2024.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Trump back on hot seat with claim linking ballot box ruling to 2020 election, July 14, 2022.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstates absentee ballot drop boxes, July 5, 2024.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Taxpayers' bill for the shuttered Michael Gableman election review keeps growing. Here is the latest and what we know so far., March 3, 2023.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 'An incompetent circus': Michael Gableman's 2020 election review reaches 1 year and the $1 million mark with little to show, Jan. 26, 2023.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Is Donald Trump right that in some states, you can cast an early ballot, take it back, vote again?, Nov. 2, 2016.
Wisconsin Elections Commission, Election Administration Manual for Wisconsin Municipal Clerks, Feb. 2024.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Appeals Court puts on hold ruling sought by conservative groups barring 'ballot spoiling', Oct. 10, 2022.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Here's a short timeline of Foxconn's plans and development in Wisconsin, Nov. 10, 2023.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Trump wrong to blame pandemic for Foxconn struggles, Oct. 23, 2020.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, President Biden touts Microsoft's Racine County 'comeback project,' contrasts it with Foxconn failure, May 9, 2024.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, At Racine rally, Trump again claims he ‘saved’ Kenosha, Wis., in 2020, June 21, 2024.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, No, Trump doesn't deserve credit for Kenosha de-escalation, Sept. 1, 2020.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, Trump claim that Madison, Milwaukee are sanctuary cities has some merit but goes too far, April 17, 2020.
PolitiFact Wisconsin, President Trump makes some interesting claims about Wisconsin's Republican voting history, June 29, 2018.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ahead of RNC, a recap of our fact-checks of Trump’s Wisconsin claims