The head of a GOP-backed investigation into the 2020 election in Wisconsin said Tuesday evening that subpoenas will be issued to the mayors of Wisconsin’s five largest cities to provide information about election administration in their communities.

Former conservative state Supreme Court justice Michael Gableman, who is leading the probe, told the Green Bay Common Council on Tuesday evening that a subpoena had been delivered — or would soon be delivered — to Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich, as well as the mayors of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine and Kenosha. 

Those cities, the five largest in Wisconsin, shared a $6.3 million election administration grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a group founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The grants have come under sharp scrutiny from Republicans, who argue they enabled too much outside influence over how elections were run.

As of Wednesday afternoon, only Racine Mayor Cory Mason confirmed receiving a subpoena. The subpoena compels Mason to appear in person before Gableman or other investigators in Brookfield on Oct. 22 to provide “evidence and testimony with regard to the November 2020 General Election in Wisconsin … including but not limited to, potential irregularities and/or illegalities related to the Election.” Regarding evidence, the subpoena compels the mayor to bring “all documents contained in your files and/or in your custody possession, or control, pertaining to the Election.”

According to the subpoena, failure to comply could result in criminal penalties, including imprisonment.

Offices for the mayors of Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay told WPR they had not yet received subpoenas. The Kenosha mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment from WPR. 

The new subpoenas are the latest issued in the ongoing investigation. Last week, subpoenas were issued to election officials across the state, as well as the Wisconsin Elections Commission. In September, Gableman released a video saying he would issue such subpoenas, if necessary. 

Speaking before the Green Bay Common Council on Tuesday, Gableman said he didn’t want mayors to consider his inquiry “an adversarial process.”

“We are all citizens of the same country, we are all citizens of the same state,” he said. “We all want open, transparent, honest and fair elections for which the administrators are accountable.”

Gableman, who visited a controversial election review in Arizona this summer, said the investigation isn’t looking to “restore former President Trump to the White House.”

“If that’s the program, no one has shared it with me, nor would I have accepted this job,” he said.

In response to questions from council members, Gableman said he planned to look into concerns about election administration guidance from the state Elections Commission to clerks, the Center for Tech and Civic Life grants and voting machines.

He also said an Oct. 31 deadline for the investigation previously set by the Legislature, which approved the inquiry, is not realistic.

There is also an ongoing election inquiry, also called by the Legislature, being conducted by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau. That inquiry is expected to be complete this fall. 

The efforts come after Wisconsin has completed a series of routine state election audits and a presidential recount in the state’s two largest counties. None of those reviews have uncovered widespread fraud or wrongdoing. There have also been numerous Republican-backed lawsuits in the state, all of which have failed to result in findings of wrongdoing by election officials or voters. 

According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, local clerks referred just 13 allegations of suspected fraud in the November 2020 election to district attorneys. Nearly 3.3 million votes were cast in the state.

President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes — a margin similar to several other razor-thin statewide elections in recent years.

Editor’s note: This story will be updated.