FBI interview covers poll worker’s complaint

Listen to this article

MADISON — A Milwaukee poll worker interviewed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents in recent weeks about the 2020 presidential election said the conversation focused on fact gathering and did not include talk of testifying before a grand jury − offering one of the first glimpses into the scope of the federal probe under way in the state’s largest city.

FBI agents interviewed David Bolter, a 63-year-old federal employee and Milwaukee resident who worked at city’s central counting location during the 2020 election.

The interview covered a complaint Bolter filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission following the election, alleging former Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall violated election laws − claims Woodall has denied, and the commission has rejected.

Bolter’s complaint has become central to false claims made by President Donald Trump and his supporters about the 2020 presidential election, including Bolter’s contention that at about 12:30 a.m. the night of the election, “it was announced that a huge truckload of ballots were going to be delivered shortly,” which Bolter described as “odd.”

Bolter, a Republican, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he could not disclose many details about his May interview with FBI agents.

“I can safely say it was fact gathering,” Bolter said.

“I really can’t go into the actual specifics or anything, nor can I go into anything they showed in terms of their current intent or plans over the next few months, but I am glad that they’re doing more of an in-depth look at things, per se, because there deliberately was things that were not correctly done that night,” he said. “And I can’t speak to motives. I can only speak to what I observed firsthand. … There was a lot of issues.”

Woodall in December 2020 responded to each of Bolter’s allegations in the complaint to the state elections commission. In her response, she said there was no announcement of a truckload of ballots being dropped off.

Bolter testified in a partisan legislative hearing that month about the administration of the 2020 election. The hearing did not include any election officials.

She said Bolter’s claim was “outlandish and not factual.”

“Our last delivery of ballots was made by 13 separate teams of ballot runners shortly before 8:00 pm,” she wrote in her response.

Bolter said he “couldn’t care less” about Woodall’s rebuttal. “It happened and I know it,” he said.

The FBI is seeking interviews with a host of Milwaukee election officials and staff who helped administer the 2020 election at a time the Trump administration is relitigating his 2020 loss in key battleground states. No ballots have been seized, sources have said.

Biden defeated Trump by about 21,000 votes – a result that has been confirmed by lawsuits, recounts paid for by Trump, audits, among other avenues. Still, Trump contends his loss was a result of widespread voter fraud that has, so far, not been proven to be true.

Woodall, who was fired by Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson in 2024, has repeatedly declined to comment on the FBI activity in Milwaukee that, so far, appears to be focused on claims and conspiracy theories related to her actions on Election Day in 2020. A spokeswoman for the FBI also has repeatedly declined to answer questions about the probe.

Don Millis, incoming chairman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in a recent interview he believes the FBI is preparing a report “for probably someone higher up in the Department of Justice or the FBI.”

“I am not confident that anything more will come of it,” he said. “I’m not sure that we’ll have an investigation. I think it’s hopefully doubtful that we’ll see any FBI come into any clerk’s office in Milwaukee or Madison or elsewhere with a search warrant. I think mostly what is going on is that they’re trying to draft a report so that those in Washington can evaluate it.”