Madison rally calls for investigation into Wisconsin false electors

A small group gathered on the steps of the Dane County Courthouse on Thursday to demand the Dane County District Attorney launch an investigation into Wisconsin’s false electors.

The 10 Republicans who acted as electors met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, in an attempt to present Wisconsin’s electoral votes for the 2020 election to Donald Trump on the same day Democratic electors met to cast Wisconsin’s official electoral votes for then President-elect Joe Biden.

Those involved in the Republican effort said they were trying to preserve legal options for Trump’s campaign to contest the election results.

Wisconsin Public Radio reached out to Robert Spindell, one of the Republicans who participated in the plan; Jim Troupis, an attorney who helped outline the GOP electors’ strategy; and Paul Farrow, Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman, for comment, but did not receive any responses as of Friday afternoon.

Rally participants said they want the electors to be held responsible.

Greg Lewis, executive director of Souls to the Polls, said if the issue isn’t addressed, communities of color will be more reluctant to vote.

“They just don’t trust in the system,” Lewis said. “Things like this really increases the degree of mistrust.”

Lewis said it is “hypocritical” that people of color are regularly arrested for minor infractions, yet these false electors are not being condemned.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway spoke at the event, saying a handful of people are prosecuted every year in Wisconsin for similar voting crimes and are punished harshly. She said such acts committed on a national scale should be addressed the same way.

“Why would we ignore the efforts of a political party to reject tens of thousands, no, millions of votes?” Rhodes-Conway said. “We cannot allow this to happen again.”

Mel Barnes, staff counsel with the nonprofit group Law Forward, said though they’ve had several conversations with the district attorney’s office, they are formally renewing their call for the false electors to be held accountable.

Law Forward first sent a letter to the Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne’s office in February, encouraging them to examine the Wisconsin fake electors. They also filed a lawsuit in May against the electors and two attorneys who helped orchestrate the plan.

As of Thursday morning, Law Forward sent a second letter to the Ozanne’s office, writing, “You have the power to see that justice is done, and the people of Wisconsin are counting on you.”

Matt Rothschild, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said he does not want the seriousness of this issue to be overlooked.

“People want accountability, people want justice, people want freedom,” Rothschild said. “They want to know that our freedom to vote is protected. That’s essential, that’s fundamental, to our democracy.”

Following the speeches at the rally, Barnes was asked if she believes their public campaign for an investigation will lead to action on the issue. Barnes said the District Attorney has a duty to address this issue.

False electors schemes in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan are also facing scrutiny.