The Sconi

Pressure is mounting on some progressive political activists to disclose the full extent of their involvement in the administration of Wisconsin’s November 2020 elections.

A conservative election integrity watchdog, The Amistad Project, filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) on behalf of five Green Bay residents alleging that city officials effectively turned over control of the elections to the activist groups, who then engaged in ballot curing (fixing ballot errors) and vote counting.

Citing emails obtained through public record requests by Amistad, the plaintiffs allege Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, a representative of the left-leaning National Vote at Home Institute (NVHI), ran the central counting facility in Green Bay. Spitzer-Rubenstein worked with the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a group of Democratic operatives flush with $350 million in donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to ensure “safe and secure” elections during the pandemic. But the group was little more than a front for a get out the vote effort for the Democratic Party, according to an analysis by an independent research group out of Washington, the Capital Research Center. 

"Hundreds of millions of dollars purchased local election offices in 2020 to benefit one political candidate, paying salaries of election officials and literally dictating the manner in which the election should be managed," said Phill Kline, director of Amistad and a former Kansas Republican attorney general, in a statement. "Evidence in Green Bay proves this shadow government ran the election and now it is time those involved come clean."

"Transparency is critical to election integrity," Kline continued. "We are asking the Center for Tech and Civic Life, National Vote at Home Institute, the Center for Civic Design, Mark Zuckerberg, and cities accepting monies and expertise from these groups to disclose communications regarding the 2020 election."

Amistad said that Green Bay was part of what private interests dubbed "the Wisconsin – 5" which invited in private interests to manage the election. Documents relating to these private interests also raise questions, Amistad argues, about election management in Racine, Kenosha, Madison and Milwaukee.

The Wisconsin Senate approved legislation this week that bans local officials from accepting private funds for the administration of elections. A separate voter integrity bill that won Senate approval will increase transparency at the WEC by requiring the online publication of the commission’s meeting minutes.

Wisconsin Spotlight reported the “complainants may face an uphill battle with a Wisconsin Elections Commission led by a highly partisan chairwoman appointed by Democrats.”

“WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe was not only aware of the left-leaning groups involved in the elections in Green Bay and Milwaukee, she promoted them to other elections officials,” the report said.