Biden-Harris DOJ Threatens To Sue Two Small Wisconsin Towns Over Refusal To Use Electronic Voting Machines
Authored by Debra Heine via American Greatness,
The Biden-Harris Department of Justice has threatened to sue two small towns in Wisconsin over their refusal to use electronic voting machines to cast and tabulate votes, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
In July, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke threatened to file a lawsuit against the State of Wisconsin, the state Elections Commission and Administrator Meagan Wolfe, and the towns of Thornapple and Lawrence, as well as the towns' clerks and boards of supervisors, because the towns allegedly did not offer voting equipment at their polling places in the April presidential primary election.
Clarke warned the potential plaintiffs in a letter that by not offering voting equipment for people with disabilities, they were in violation of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
Among the federal requirements is that each voting system must be “accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters,” the letter states.
Voting systems used for federal elections therefore have to have “at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities at each polling place,” the letter said.
The letter went on to state that federal investigators had determined that the towns had failed to make “at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities available at each polling place, including during the April 2, 2024, federal primary election.”
Clark said to avoid litigation, town officials needed to negotiate a “consent decree” with the federal government.
“We hope to resolve this matter amicably and to avoid protracted litigation. Accordingly, we are prepared to delay filing the complaint briefly to permit us time to negotiate a consent decree to be filed with the complaint,” she wrote.
Despite this warning, Thornapple, population 8,297, allegedly conducted the August primary election using only hand-counted, paper ballots. The Thornapple township board reportedly voted to eliminate electronic voting machines last Spring. In Wisconsin, most voters use paper ballots that are tabulated by electronic counting machines.
Suzanne Pinnow, Thornapple’s Treasurer, has disputed that voters with disabilities were unable to use an accessible voting machine during the April election. “No one’s been turned away,” she told the Journal- Sentinel in May.
Pinnow also told Votebeat that nobody in the town had been unable to vote because of the decision not to have accessible voting machines.
“I wish I could talk. I wish I could,” Pinnow said. “I wish I could because I think more people need to hear and understand and know why. But at this time, I can’t … because if it for some reason would go to litigation, I don’t want anything out there that I’m spewing this or that or saying something that I didn’t say.”