In Wisconsin, a six-member state elections commission appointed by the governor and legislative leaders supervises elections and issues rules and regulations about how they are run. As in most states, poll workers also play a key role in the process by helping to register voters, answer questions, ensure the security of voting equipment, and tabulate results. While election deniers are being recruited as poll workers and watchers, many laws and guardrails are in place to prevent anyone from disrupting election processes.
Election results are certified at the local and county level, and ultimately, at the state level by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The role of election administrators in certifying election results has become increasingly contentious in the aftermath of the 2020 election as Trump allies attempt to exert more control over the voting process.
According to Informing Democracy, several officials in Wisconsin attempted to interfere with the 2020 presidential election by promoting conspiracy theories about voter fraud, supporting calls for full hand recounts of ballots for no demonstrable reason, and calling on Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of the Electoral College counts on January 6, 2021, among other actions. The following administrators continue to support Trump’s Big Lie:
- Robert Spindell | Wisconsin Elections Commission Vice Chair
As one of the 10 fake electors from Wisconsin, Robert Spindell signed false documents in December 2020, attempting to undermine the results of the presidential election. When he spoke at an early December Stop the Steal rally in Madison, he delivered the double negative observation, “There’s no evidence vote fraud did not occur.” Even though other Republicans on the elections commission definitively confirmed that there had been no issues with the state’s voting machines, Spindell shared the podium with rally organizer and diehard Trump pitbull Mike Lindell, who claimed Trump lost Wisconsin because of issues with Dominion voting machines—a widely disproven conspiracy theory. In December 2023, Spindell and the other nine fake electors settled a lawsuit brought against them by publicly admitting that Biden had won the election and that they had fraudulently posed as presidential electors. Despite requests from Wisconsin Senate Democrats, the Senate majority leader, a Republican, has refused to remove Spindell from his term appointment on the elections commission, which runs through 2025. - Helmut Fritz | Milwaukee County Election Commission
In November 2020, Helmut Fritz shared an Electoral College results map on Facebook showing that Trump had won the election, writing, “Contrary to the prevailing press, this is the actual, current, electoral count with prevailing lawsuits. This per the Epoch Times Newspaper. Thankfully, it isn’t the press that declares an incoming presidency.” - Douglas Haag | Milwaukee City Election Commission
On November 28, 2020, Douglas Haag posted a doctored photo showing President-elect Biden as a Domino’s pizza delivery man with the tagline: “Dominion’s. Buy 1 vote get 75,000 free (4 A.M. delivery only).” On January 10, 2021, he posted a video on Facebook (which he has since concealed) showing a police officer waving people through a barricade near the Capitol four days earlier, with the comment, “Hmm interesting to say the least.” In May 2021, Haag shared a post (which he has since concealed) claiming that a “known ANTIFA member” had been paid $70,000 for a video of the attack on the Capitol on January 6 and adding, “FBI = Deep State.”