JUST IN ALERT TOP STORY Jan 9, 2024 2022 ELECTION Judge: Racine's use of mobile voting truck in 2022 was illegal
The city of Racine's use of a mobile voting truck to serve as a movable early voting site in 2022 was illegal, a Racine County Circuit Court judge ruled Monday.
The vehicle was first used in 2022 as a remote polling place and voter registration station. The truck, and questions about its use, soon became the target of GOP scrutiny — with some Republicans claiming it was being used to boost Democratic votes — during the Aug. 9 primary that year, when there were several hotly contested races on the ballot, including GOP primaries for governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
Shortly after that contest, Racine County Republican Party chair Ken Brown and the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission challenging the city's Mobile Election Unit.
The commission dismissed the complaint in November, prompting the lawsuit.
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journaltimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/a7/1a7755e7-a62d-5faf-bef6-ceddb6715509/659d8c19a6091.pdf.pdf On Monday, Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz ruled Wisconsin's election statutes refer to physical structures for absentee voting and none "allow for the use of a mobile alternative absentee voting vehicles."
"Nowhere can this Court find or has been provided any authority allowing the use of a van or vehicle as an alternate absentee voting vehicle," Gasiorkiewicz wrote, adding that interpreting statutes to allow such vehicles is "a bridge too far."
The Racine Common Council approved funding for one truck to serve as a mobile early voting site in June 2020. The city used it for the first time in the state's spring primary in February 2022.
The vehicle was purchased using grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit that provided funding to communities across the country to help election officials update technology and increase voter participation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The center received a $350 million donation in 2020 from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, which prompted some Republicans to complain the money unfairly helped increase turnout in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine.
While the grants were provided to any community that requested them, including many in areas that solidly voted for then-President Donald Trump, Wisconsin's five largest cities received two to four times more money, per capita. Court rulings have found nothing illegal about the more than $10 million in grants CTCL distributed to about 214 municipalities in 39 of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
Racine has a new voting van. Republicans plan to challenge it. Again.
“Wisconsin voters should know that their elections are secure, and that election administration does not favor one political party over another," Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty deputy counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement Tuesday. "This decision does just that."
While the city, Democratic National Committee and the Milwaukee-based voting advocacy group Black Leaders Organizing for Communities had argued that no statute expressly bars the use of mobile voting sites, Gasiorkiewicz said the "absence of an express prohibition, however, does not mean mobile absentee ballot sites comport to procedures specified in the election laws."
"Nothing in the statutory language detailing the procedures by which absentee ballots may be cast mentions mobile van absentee ballot sites or anything like them," he added. " Such an interpretation was and is contrary to the law."
Gasiorkiewicz noted in his ruling that he "is not expressing an opinion regarding the efficacy of the use of mobile vans to further the popular use of in-person absentee voting."
"This ruling stands for the proposition that such determinations are for the legislature to direct and cannot be a novel creation of executive branch officials."
It's unclear if Gasiorkiewicz's ruling will be appealed. The state Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Racine City Clerk Tara McMenamin said in an email the city's legal team is reviewing the ruling.
OP's Note: This is the same vehicle with handwritten signage 'MobileVoting.com' that was later converted and used to drive into certain neighborhoods with updated signage ' Covid Testing' 'Covid Vaccine Van', which was then used as they walked door to door, while stating they were there to give the residents their Covid Vaccine and/or Covid testing. The Mayor's own brother ran a Covid testing lab.
JUST IN ALERT TOP STORY Jan 9, 2024 2022 ELECTION Judge: Racine's use of mobile voting truck in 2022 was illegal
The city of Racine's use of a mobile voting truck to serve as a movable early voting site in 2022 was illegal, a Racine County Circuit Court judge ruled Monday.
The vehicle was first used in 2022 as a remote polling place and voter registration station. The truck, and questions about its use, soon became the target of GOP scrutiny — with some Republicans claiming it was being used to boost Democratic votes — during the Aug. 9 primary that year, when there were several hotly contested races on the ballot, including GOP primaries for governor, attorney general and secretary of state.
Shortly after that contest, Racine County Republican Party chair Ken Brown and the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission challenging the city's Mobile Election Unit.
The commission dismissed the complaint in November, prompting the lawsuit.
On Monday, Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz ruled Wisconsin's election statutes refer to physical structures for absentee voting and none "allow for the use of a mobile alternative absentee voting vehicles."
"Nowhere can this Court find or has been provided any authority allowing the use of a van or vehicle as an alternate absentee voting vehicle," Gasiorkiewicz wrote, adding that interpreting statutes to allow such vehicles is "a bridge too far."
The Racine Common Council approved funding for one truck to serve as a mobile early voting site in June 2020. The city used it for the first time in the state's spring primary in February 2022.
The vehicle was purchased using grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit that provided funding to communities across the country to help election officials update technology and increase voter participation during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The center received a $350 million donation in 2020 from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, which prompted some Republicans to complain the money unfairly helped increase turnout in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine.
While the grants were provided to any community that requested them, including many in areas that solidly voted for then-President Donald Trump, Wisconsin's five largest cities received two to four times more money, per capita. Court rulings have found nothing illegal about the more than $10 million in grants CTCL distributed to about 214 municipalities in 39 of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
Racine has a new voting van. Republicans plan to challenge it. Again.
“Wisconsin voters should know that their elections are secure, and that election administration does not favor one political party over another," Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty deputy counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement Tuesday. "This decision does just that."
While the city, Democratic National Committee and the Milwaukee-based voting advocacy group Black Leaders Organizing for Communities had argued that no statute expressly bars the use of mobile voting sites, Gasiorkiewicz said the "absence of an express prohibition, however, does not mean mobile absentee ballot sites comport to procedures specified in the election laws."
"Nothing in the statutory language detailing the procedures by which absentee ballots may be cast mentions mobile van absentee ballot sites or anything like them," he added. " Such an interpretation was and is contrary to the law."
Gasiorkiewicz noted in his ruling that he "is not expressing an opinion regarding the efficacy of the use of mobile vans to further the popular use of in-person absentee voting."
"This ruling stands for the proposition that such determinations are for the legislature to direct and cannot be a novel creation of executive branch officials."
It's unclear if Gasiorkiewicz's ruling will be appealed. The state Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Racine City Clerk Tara McMenamin said in an email the city's legal team is reviewing the ruling.