MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee County district attorney’s office has declined to file charges against two members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission after Racine County’s sheriff recommended charging them for guidance they provided ahead of the 2020 election.
In a letter to Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling on Monday, Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal said there is “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” WEC commissioners Ann Jacobs and Mark Thomsen broke the law when they issued guidance about special voting deputies in nursing homes ahead of the election.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WEC said special voting deputies should not be used in order to limit the number of visitors at nursing homes and other similar facilities. Instead, the agency said those voters should have absentee ballots mailed to them.
Five of the six commissioners voted to keep the guidance in place in subsequent reviews. Last March, WEC allowed the SVD guidance to expire.
In November, Schmaling recommended the Racine County district attorney charge those five commissioners — Jacobs, Thomsen, Margaret Bostelmann, Julie Glancey and Dean Knudson — with misconduct in office and election fraud over the guidance they gave. Attorney General Josh Kaul declined to pursue a statewide investigation, and in February, Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson said she didn’t have jurisdiction in the case because none of the commissioners lived in her county.
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The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office only reviewed charges against Jacobs and Thomsen because the pair are the only commissioners to live in Milwaukee County.
The issue of special voting deputies was a significant factor in former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman’s investigation into the 2020 election in the state. Last week, he called for a “hard look” at decertifying the election in Wisconsin, which nonpartisan attorneys and Republican lawmakers have said is impossible.
President Joe Biden defeated former president Donald Trump by roughly 20,000 votes in Wisconsin. Multiple reviews have failed to uncover evidence of widespread election fraud in 2020.
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