Global Courant 2023-05-08 23:08:11
A Wisconsin judge said Monday he will order the state’s election commission to reconsider a complaint filed against fake Republican voters who attempted to cast the state’s 2020 election ballots for former President Donald Trump.
But this time, said Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington, the commission must hear the complaint without the participation of one of the six commissioners, who was also one of the false voters.
The Wisconsin Election Commission, Republican Commissioner Robert Spindell, and those filing the lawsuit all ultimately agreed that the complaint should be retried without Spindell’s participation.
Given that agreement, Remington said during oral arguments on Monday that he would write a written order next week to strike down the committee’s March 2022 unanimous rejection of the complaint against the bogus voters and demand that it reconsider without Spindell.
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“Surprise, surprise, I come to the same conclusion, as all parties have done, that the correct remedy is to quash the WEC’s decision and refer it back for further proceedings, which Commissioner Spindell is not involved in,” said Remington. said.
Spindell is one of three Republican members of the committee that also has three Democratic members. It oversees Wisconsin elections.
Madison-based liberal law firm Law Forward filed a 2021 complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission alleging that Republicans illegally impersonated Wisconsin voters in an attempt to convince the US Congress to declare that Trump won the state in 2020, even though he actually lost to President Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes.
Recount observers look at the ballots during a manual recount of Milwaukee presidential votes on November 20, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)
The complaint asked the Election Commission to investigate the actions of the bogus voters and declare that they violated the law.
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The commission voted unanimously in a closed session last year to dismiss the complaint, saying Republicans attempting to cast the state’s 10 electoral college votes for Trump are not violating any electoral law. Spindell did not shy away from considering the complaint, even though he voted as one of the bogus GOP voters.
The Wisconsin Justice Department concluded that Republicans were legitimately trying to preserve Trump’s legal standing as courts had to decide whether he or Biden won the election. That is the same argument that Trump allies and the bogus Wisconsin voters have made, also in testimony before the Jan. 6 committee.
Law Forward and Madison law firm Stafford Rosenbaum sued the commission and Spindell on behalf of Paul Sickel, executive director of the Wisconsin State Council of the Service Employees International Union. Sickel also brought the original complaint to the Election Commission.
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Jeff Mandell, co-founder of Law Forward, said it was important to get a ruling that makes it clear that no member of the Election Commission will take up complaints that directly concern them.
“We want to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Mandell said after Monday’s hearing. “There’s no vendetta or anything like that here.”
The case heard Monday is one of two pending lawsuits filed by Law Forward regarding the fake voters. A judge dismissed another lawsuit against Spindell earlier this year seeking documents related to the handling of the complaint.
The other pending case, in federal court, alleges a conspiracy to overturn the election and is seeking $2.4 million in damages from the 10 rogue voters and Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis.