Alright, whenever you're ready.
Election Day is approaching, and questions about election security, voter intimidation, and the possibilities of federal agents at polling places are getting plenty of attention here in Wisconsin.
Attorney General Josh Call is also seeking another term in office, facing Republican challenger Eric Tony, who has questioned Call's handling of the office and its legal challenges to the Trump administration.
Today we are talking with Attorney General Call about protecting Wisconsin's elections, those legal battles, and his priorities if re-elected.
Thank you so much.
for joining us today, Attorney General.
Thanks for having me.
Your office recently issued a reminder about voter intimidation and threats against election workers.
As we do approach November, what concerns you most about election security in Wisconsin and what's your office doing to address those concerns right now?
There have been three things in particular that I've been focused on.
One has to do with mail-in voting.
There's been an effort by the Trump administration to undermine our ability to have our ballots cast and counted through the mail process.
The good news there is my administration and other states challenged a rule that the Postal Service put out.
We were successful, and so folks in Wisconsin are going to be able to vote by mail the same way that they have previously.
with one important caveat which is that unfortunately the Trump administration has made the postal service less efficient and so it's important that folks get their ballots in early.
Secondly, making sure that we are prepared to respond if there is any kind of deployment of federal agents to the polls is going to be important.
We made clear recently with information that my office put out that it's against federal law for a federal officer to direct
armed agents to an active polling place.
And I don't think that the Trump administration will be violating that law, but if they do, we are prepared to respond.
I think we will see movement and possibly have public communications about this before it happens.
But if it does, we will be prepared to go to court and to ensure that access to safe voting is protected in Wisconsin.
And then third, we've been focused on the concern about ballot seizures.
There were ballots seized from 2020 in Georgia and Arizona ballots were subpoenaed from 2020.
And it's critical that ballots not be seized while the certification process is going on.
There's no legitimate law enforcement reason for the federal government to seize ballots in Wisconsin before the counting process is completed and the certification process is completed.
So again, we will be prepared to go to court if need be.
I will say that
We have dealt with challenges to our elections before in 2020.
My administration defended the results of the elections in Wisconsin and we won in case after case.
We had Michael Gabelman's preposterous investigation into the 2020 elections.
We stood up against that and ultimately that investigation really led to nothing productive.
And then recently, as I mentioned, we challenged the attack on mail-in voting.
So we are prepared, we're gonna be vigilant, but I also am confident because of our preparation and vigilance,
that Wisconsinites are going to be able to cast their ballots safely and that we will ultimately have a free and fair election.
Well, what's somewhat different about this election is, you know, those three things I mentioned, they are all because of the President of the United States.
This is what we're talking about in terms of protecting our elections.
Now in 2020,
Donald Trump tried to overturn the results, so it's not unique.
But the major concerns we're talking about are related to the president.
The mail-in voting, again, is slower, so it's important people get those ballots in early.
And we want to be prepared to respond if there are unforeseen events that happen around the elections or following the elections.
What I can tell folks is we are going to be prepared.
We're also working with other states around the country so that we're prepared.
And I'm confident that we will be able to respond effectively regardless of what happens.
Attorney General, you alluded to the possibility and talked a little bit about federal agents that might include ICE appearing at the polling places.
I guess my question to that is if a voter does feel intimidated or see something concerning at a polling place as we approach the election, what should they do?
First, somebody can contact one of the folks who's working at the polling place where they are.
They can also contact their local clerk or the state election commission.
We intend to be in close contact with the election commission.
We regularly are.
And if we become aware of issues that are of concern, we're going to respond quickly.
But we have a lot of authority given under state law to the chief election inspectors, and they've got a lot of ability to ensure that their polling places are running safely and smoothly.
That's the first place I would suggest folks go, but there are also certainly voter protection hotlines out there.
But what's important is if people see something concerning that they pass that information along so that it can be shared quickly.
And you talked a little bit about some of the lawsuits, but just for anybody who doesn't know, Wisconsin did join other states in suing the Trump administration over federal funding, funding tied to election related requirements.
The administration is arguing that those measures are about election integrity.
What does your office believe, why does your office, I should say, believe they cross the line?
And what's at stake for Wisconsin if the state loses that particular fight?
My administration has joined more than 70 multi-state cases against Trump administration actions.
And we have seen this administration try to abuse its power to put illegal conditions on grant funds or some cases to cut funds or to freeze funds.
And the good news is we keep winning.
We have won over and over again because the administration is flouting the law.
It's flouting the Constitution.
And this is another example of it.
The administration is trying to exercise control over states
by threatening to withhold funds unless states do what the administration has demanded.
That's not how our system works.
So we have challenged this effort to withhold funding.
We've had a number of other cases where they've similarly tried to put illegal conditions in place and we've had success in challenging those.
I do think it's important for folks to know that this is one of the critical distinctions in the AG's race because in our recent debate Eric Tony did not identify a single one of those more than 70 cases that he would have joined.
That means he wouldn't, at least he hasn't been willing to say that he would have joined challenges to Trump administration tariffs or to policies that make access to affordable health care less available, to cuts for funding that supports education, to the attempted elimination of the AmeriCorps program, and on and on.
These are really critical cases for protecting resources in our state and for preventing the Trump administration from significantly expanding its control over
what happens in Wisconsin.
So having an AG who's willing to stand up for the best interest of Wisconsinites is really critical right now.
The funds that have been threatened have been a huge amount.
It just funds that they've tried to cut or freeze.
It's easily in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
And then if you add funds, they've tried to put illegal conditions on.
It's an even larger number.
So this could have devastating consequences for the state finances in Wisconsin.
It would be very difficult for the state to make up for that.
And there would either need to be cuts to really vital programs.
or other consequences that flow from this.
What I do want people to know though is we've been fighting back in court and we've been winning over and over again.
So one simple example is that the Trump administration tried to illegally condition transportation funding for Wisconsin.
Wisconsin receives about a billion dollars a year from the federal government for transportation funding.
And remember, this is not a gift.
These are our tax dollars that go to the federal government and then are appropriated by Congress.
And this was passed into law by a president.
And the administration is trying to illegally withhold those funds or illegally condition them.
So we challenge that.
We were successful.
And as a result, there's not illegal conditions in place on transportation funding in Wisconsin.
It's just one example of many, though, of how this administration has abused its power.
We are talking about election security ahead of November and his campaign for another term in office.
Let's pivot to your opponent because you mentioned the recent debate and also in a September interview with Wisconsin Watch.
Eric Tony accused you of breaking your earlier campaign promise to keep politics out of the Attorney General's office.
He also argued that those lawsuits that you mentioned against the Trump administration put politics ahead of
public safety.
What is your response to that criticism?
I think the job of the Attorney General is to protect Wisconsinites.
And unfortunately, what we have seen is policy after policy from the federal government that is harming Wisconsinites.
One example is the impact that the tariffs are having, which have increased prices for Wisconsinites.
They've had a really significant impact on farmers in Wisconsin.
Fighting back against those policies when they are illegal or unconstitutional is what the AG should be doing That's how the attorney that's one way the Attorney General can protect the public in Wisconsin So I'm proud of my record of standing up with Eric Tony We would have somebody who is effectively a yes man for Donald Trump in the office Like I said, he was asked if he would have joined any of those 70 plus suits and he didn't name a single case
that he would have joined.
So he's both ducking these questions and refusing to stand up directly to Donald Trump.
At a time when we have the federal government trying to assert more control over our state's threatening critical funding, it would be really damaging to the state to have an AG who's not willing to stand up like I have been.
And as Attorney General, I'm going to keep standing up for our Constitution and for the rule of law.
Well, first, we have a lot of close elections in Wisconsin, as you said.
Five of our last seven presidential elections were decided by less than one percentage point.
And if you look, you can see that
Some of those elections were won in Wisconsin by President Trump.
Some of them were won by the Democratic candidate.
Likewise, in other state elections, we have close elections.
In 2022, for example, I won by 1.33 percentage points.
And Ron Johnson won by about a percentage point.
I'm a Democrat, of course, and he's a Republican.
So the results have gone both ways.
They've also been tested.
There have been, there are audits that are conducted of the election.
We've had challenges, legal challenges to the way that our elections are conducted and consistently what that shows is that the results reflect the will of the voters.
So there are robust processes in place.
Our elections in Wisconsin are subject to a lot of scrutiny and we should have elections carefully scrutinized but consistently they have been shown to be to be free and fair and that the results reflect the will of the voters.
I can tell you as Attorney General I've been committed to ensuring
that we continue to have safe, free, and fair elections.
The unfortunate reality is that the biggest threat to the integrity of our elections right now is coming from the President of the United States and his baseless attacks on our election system.
Well, we've made real progress on critical public safety issues.
My administration helped to get accountability from companies and individuals who allegedly contributed to the opioid epidemic.
We have helped to recover over $800 million, and dollars are going to communities across the state to fight that epidemic.
We have seen from 2023 to 2024 in Wisconsin, there was a reduction of over 40% in opioid overdose deaths.
We're also making progress on violent crime statewide.
Last year,
We had the fewest number of violent crimes that we've had in any year statewide since 2011.
But we have more work to do.
I want to build on the progress that we've been making on those issues.
And there's a stark contrast here between what we've seen statewide and what we've seen in Fond du Lac County where my opponent Eric Tony is the DA.
In Fond du Lac County, violent crime is up unlike what we've seen statewide.
Last year they had the second highest number of violent crimes that they've had in decades.
So I want to keep building on the progress we're making and keep the state moving forward on public safety and also on protecting people's freedoms.
My administration fought back against the 1800s abortion ban and ultimately obtained a ruling from our state supreme court that makes clear that access to abortion is safe and legal in Wisconsin for the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
And that's again a stark contrast in the AG's race.
Eric Tony, my opponent,
attacked me for that case.
He called it a partisan stunt.
He said the case should be dismissed.
And so there's a clear difference when it comes to standing up for our freedoms as well.
There's a lot to watch as we head into November from election security and voter protections to the legal battles involving Wisconsin and the federal government.
We are going to continue to follow all of these issues as well as the race for attorney general as election day approaches.
If you want more stories and issues affecting Wisconsin, please visit civicmedia.us.