(The Center Square) – Less than two weeks before Election Day, the bipartisan group “Pillars of the Community,” led by Ben Ginsberg, counsel to former president George W. Bush, and former president Barack Obama counsel Bob Bauer, is aiming to convince voters of the security of Wisconsin’s election process.
As of Wednesday, the group has collected more than 30 signatures from politically diverse community leaders, law enforcement officials, veteran advocates and others in a public statement affirming their belief in the security of the state’s election procedures.
“As Election Day approaches, we, Pillars of the Community in Wisconsin, are united in expressing our confidence in the integrity of our state’s election system,” the published and advertised statement begins. “In recent months, we reviewed policies and the work of local election officials to gain a better understanding of Wisconsin’s election safeguards and processes. We have seen firsthand the robust measures in place to ensure the accuracy, transparency, and security of our elections.”
Ginsberg and Bauer also discussed the topic Tuesday at an event hosted by the Wisconsin Technology Council, saying the current “partisan crossfire” is not likely to help voters be informed of the safeguards in the election system and how the election process actually works.
“This has nothing to do with conflicts over election results–those conflicts will break out, we already can be sure of it, we already hear it in the political dialogue today–and there are legal processes for disappointed candidates to contest the outcome of elections provided for under state law,” Bauer said. “The fundamental issue that we’re addressing is the basic professionalism of the efforts to put the elections on in a way that voters can have confidence in.”
Ginsberg agreed, adding that although he and Bauer have been involved on opposite sides of the political spectrum in multiple contentious election battles, they both “absolutely agree” on the importance of public faith in the election system.
“And if that faith in the system operating properly to select the real winners of an election is challenged too much, then that really sort of hurts, deteriorates, the basic foundations on which this country is based, which is the peaceful transfer of power and losers accepting results,” he said. “The election process itself is reliable.”
