The FBI is reportedly interviewing former Wisconsin poll workers who fueled fraud claims about the 2020 election

According to The New Republic, the FBI is reportedly interviewing former Wisconsin poll workers who played a part in spreading claims of fraud about the 2020 election. These people were earlier involved in legal efforts to challenge the election results.

Federal officials are now seeking more information about how local election processes were handled at that time. One of the people contacted by federal officials is David Bolter. He had earlier given an affidavit that became a key part of a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump to overturn his loss in Wisconsin.

During his meetings with federal investigators, Bolter was asked about the steps local officials followed during the election. In his original affidavit, Bolter claimed that someone at the Milwaukee absentee ballot counting facility announced the arrival of a large truckload of ballots around midnight on Election Day. No evidence has ever come out to support this specific claim, yet it gained significant traction within various conspiracy theories about the 2020 cycle

Affidavits at the center of a failed Trump lawsuit now draw federal attention

.Another former poll worker, identified only as Christine to protect her privacy, also confirmed that she spoke with the FBI. She had earlier submitted an affidavit for the same failed lawsuit, alleging that she saw election staff counting votes after she was told the process was finished. 

Talking about her past claims, she said, “I suspected wrongdoing, but I’m not saying that it actually happened.” She further described her role by saying, “I’m just one lowly person that was working there.” The agency has faced scrutiny in other matters too, including reports that a deputy emailed the Butler rally shooter.

The timing and nature of these interviews have started a wider conversation about the reason for revisiting these claims. A nonpartisan audit of the 2020 election in Wisconsin earlier found that the process was safe and secure. 

David Becker, who serves as the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, believes these ongoing efforts are not focused on finding new facts about the past. He said, “This isn’t about the 2020 election, this is about the 2026 and 2028 elections.”

Becker suggested that the approach involves intimidating current election officials and setting up a flow of disinformation. He added, “This is about intimidating election officials. This is about creating a stream of disinformation designed to delegitimize an election the president may believe he’s going to lose. 

This is designed by the president’s underlings to satisfy the unrealistic expectations of a president that still cannot comprehend that he lost an election that he definitely lost, and it’s incredibly destabilizing.” Concerns about the agency’s direction have also surfaced in reports that agents are alarmed over an old FBI file.

Beyond the interviews with former poll workers, the FBI has also reached out to several election officials in Milwaukee. The only documented cases of planned voter fraud in the state involved members of the team working for President Donald Trump. Those individuals were part of a fake electors plot meant to undermine the official results of the election.