Established Fact
At 4:07 a.m. on November 4, 2020, Elections Group employee Ryan Chew emailed Milwaukee Election Director Claire Woodall-Vogg. The Gableman/OSC Second Interim Investigative Report (March 1, 2022) reproduces the exchange verbatim (App. 610): Chew wrote, “Damn Claire, you have a flair for drama, delivering just the margin needed at 3:00 a.m. I bet you had those votes counted at midnight and just wanted to keep the world waiting.” Woodall-Vogg responded: “LOL. I just wanted to say I had been awake for a full 24 hours.”
Established Fact: the email exchange exists and its content is reproduced in the Gableman Report.
Citations
Wisconsin Special Counsel (Gableman) Second Interim Investigative Report (March 1, 2022), Chapter 4, p. 64: “The Elections Group employee Ryan Chew wrote at 4:07 a.m. on November 4, 2020 . . . to Milwaukee election official Claire Woodall-Vogg: ‘Damn Claire, you have a flair for drama, delivering just the margin needed at 3:00 a.m. I bet you had those votes counted at midnight, and just wanted to keep the world waiting.’” Woodall-Vogg responded: “LOL. I just wanted to say I had been awake for a full 24 hours.” See OSC Second Interim Investigative Report (townnews PDF, March 1, 2022)
The Gableman Report identifies Ryan Chew as an employee of The Elections Group, a CTCL-affiliated private organization that provided “technical assistance” to Milwaukee and the other Zuckerberg 5 cities under agreements the OSC concluded facially violated Wisconsin election bribery statutes. The Elections Group guided Milwaukee on absentee ballot drop boxes and election administration. OSC Report, Chapter 4, pp. 56, 65, 71. See fn. 74.
Established Fact: the Chew email is documented in the Gableman Report as a primary source, verbatim, from Appendix 610. The email’s existence and text are not disputed. See fn. 74.
The Ryan Chew email was first published by Wisconsin Spotlight and then reported by Gateway Pundit (July 31, 2021). Note: Gateway Pundit is a secondary source; the primary source is the Gableman Report, fn. 74. Gateway Pundit reporting: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/breaking-exclusive-uncovered-email-shows-milwaukee-elections-executive-woodall-vogg-laughing-election-steal-election-night/ | The Gateway Pundit
Note: Claire Woodall-Vogg’s 2024 termination as Milwaukee Elections Commission Executive Director was confirmed by AP to be unrelated to the 2020 election or the Chew email. AP fact check: no evidence of election misconduct by Woodall-Vogg in 2020 was established. Her termination was attributed to internal management issues. See AP (May 2024). Gateway Pundit reporting on termination: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/developing-milwaukee-election-director-claire-woodall-vogg-terminated/ | The Gateway Pundit
Note: The CBS News article at fn. 79 concerns threats against election officials generally; it is tangential to the Ryan Chew email and has limited relevance to this finding. It is retained for context only. CBS News: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/election-officials-threats-2020-election/ | CBS News