“Looking back I would have done it all over again a hundred times overWaite said.
Wait, it’s the president of a group called the HOT government, which takes its name from its promise advocate for “honest, open and transparent government”. He used his platform for in last two years to question state election laws and practices.
In July, he used the state. online portal called MyVote Wisconsin to request an initial ballots in names of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (right) and Racine Mayor Corey Mason (right) are two officials he has long criticized. Mason’s ballot was sent to Waite. home in Dover in southeast Wisconsin, but not Vosa. Waite said he returned Mason’s unopened ballot to county officials.
Shortly after requesting ballots, wait alerted the sheriff and attorney general in of his county, to tell them what he had done, and to offer himself up for arrest. Waite claimed that ability make a request showed that MyVote portal made a mistake and named for officials shut it down.
Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling (right) said Wait, he won’t arrest and praised him for warning public to issue. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) soon after announced that the State Department of Justice is investigating the matter.
On Thursday, Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General Susan Happ filed charges against Waite. with two criminal offenses for unauthorized use of personally identifiable information and two counts of misdemeanor of election fraud. If a found guilty on all charges, wait, maybe face a maximum of 13 years old in prison and $22,000 in fines.
criminal Complaint describes Wait as a request ballots in names of “Individual 1” and “Individual 2”. Other entries, along with Waite’s own comments indicate that they are Vos and Mason. A complaint says Wait ordered ballots in names of others, as well, after obtaining permission from them. He has not been charged with any crime for ordering those ballots.
Waite repeatedly admitted that he did what criminal asserts the complaint. On Thursday, he said he had originally planned to represent himself and would claim he did not break the law because he did not believe MyVote. system is legally permitted. Electoral officials ignored his claims that portal is legally invalid.
“You must do what you must to protect the Republic,” Waite said. “What I have done is of record. I provided the Department of Justice with everything they need hold me accountable. And I will stand in front of 12 jurors and see if they agree with Ministry of Justice”.
Using MyVote, anyone can look up voters if they know their names and dates of birth. After logging in, they can order a correspondence ballots and ask to be sent somewhere. What option is available so that voters who temporarily absent, may have their own ballots sent back to where they left off.
Majority of voters in Wisconsin must provide a copy of photo ID first the time they require an absentee ballot. By state law, voters who say they are indefinitely limited to them homes because of age or disability must not provide identification. According to him, Waite used this feature to bypass the ID requirement.
Requesting a ballot through MyVote generates an email to the voter’s municipal secretary, who does ultimate decision on whether to send a newsletter. Clerk in Mason community mailed his ballot to Wait, but one in Vosa community not after validating the request. She said that she also stopped another vote in Vos’s name after sending overseas.
Electoral fraud is rare. Last yearWisconsin Board of Elections identified 41 cases of potential voter fraud in primaries and elections in end of 2020 and beginning of 2021. for tiny portion of in millions of ballots Cast in those elections.
