Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling announced Wednesday that he has referred recommendations for criminal charges against five Wisconsin elections commissioners to District Attorney Patricia Hanson.
Last week, Schmaling held a news conference and said he was calling for a statewide investigation into the issue from Attorney General Josh Kaul.
Kaul declined to open an investigation, so Schmaling decided to send his recommendation of charges against Commissioners Margaret Bostelmann, Julie Glancey, Ann Jacobs, Dean Knudson, and Mark Thomsen.
The sheriff said the Wisconsin Elections Commission voted in the spring of 2020 not to use special voting deputies (SVDs), which is required by state statute.
SVDs are pairs of people that visit nursing homes to assist with voting. Schmaling claimed that residents of a Mount Pleasant nursing home were illegally coerced by facility staff into voting because some of the residents were cognitively impaired.
Schmaling said families of eight Ridgewood Care Center residents told investigators their family members cast a ballot, despite not having the capacity to vote.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said “If there were instances of coercion or procedures not followed by the care facility or jurisdiction – then those need to be referred to district attorneys”.
The sheriff called again on Kaul to conduct a statewide investigation. Kaul responded saying that if Racine County officials believe election laws were broken, they should file charges.
The charges against the commissioners include misconduct in public office, election fraud – election official assisting with violation, party to the crime of election fraud – receive ballot non-election official, party to the crime of election fraud – illegal ballot receipt, and party to the crime of election fraud – solicit assistance.
The first two charges are felonies and the other three are misdemeanors.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission said Schmaling’s accusations are wrong and insists no crime was committed.