The Sconi

The Wisconsin Voter Alliance (WVA) alleges that the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) is no longer placing those deemed incompetent to vote in a distinct classification, raising the prospect for massive voter fraud.

“What we found by cross-checking names of incompetents from earlier databases was that the WEC had totally done away with the inactive incompetent status and dumped all those people previously identified as such into a category called administrative action,” WVA president Ron Heuer told The Sconi. “They had no authority to do this. We checked all the minutes of their meetings and found no authorization to make this kind of change in the minutes.”

WEC did not respond to a request for comment from The Sconi on the matter.

The problem, Heuer says, is that by effectively eliminating the incompetent classification, WEC opens the door for third parties to fill out mail ballots under someone else’s name. He said it’s a rampant practice in the state’s nursing homes.

“About a year ago, we did an extensive investigation into nursing homes and found somewhat bizarre voting patterns,” he said. “In over 100 nursing homes we investigated, we found 98.7% of the registered residents to be voting. That is statistically impossible as even in the best of best voter turnout participation one might find an 80% here or there.”

He added that a WVA investigation shows that WEC has consistently been remiss in maintaining the WisVote database with respect to entering information received from the Registers in Probate with many of its duties contracted out to the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).

Earlier this month, WVA filed writs of mandamus (court orders that government official perform their duties) in 13 counties regarding the voting status of those deemed incompetent.

The complaints allege that WEC is violating the federal Help America Vote Act by contracting with Electronic Registration Information Center Inc. to maintain and implement WisVote, the voter registration database. The complaint contends that this delegation of this government function to an outside entity has enabled the potential rigging of Wisconsin’s federal elections towards particular federal candidates.

Representing WVA in a separate complaint filed with WEC is Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal.

“Under the Help America Vote Act,” Kaardal said in a statement, “the United States Congress deemed that maintaining the statewide voter registration system database is seen as such a core governmental purpose that it cannot be delegated to any other organization, including the Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc., for which – according to its website -Wisconsin would have paid a one-time joining fee of $25,000, and an annual member fee of somewhere between $16,000 and $74,000.”

In a Sept. 22 letter to state lawmakers covering registrations and voting practices, WEC said it has no authority to inactivate the voting status of a registrant deemed incompetent.

“Inactivation of a voter registration record, where the specific inactivation reason is a statutory function of local officials, is not a mandatory duty of our staff,” the letter said.