Grants to five cities are at the heart of Wisconsin Republicans' election review. Here are the activities under scrutiny

MADISON – Grants to Wisconsin's five largest cities are at the heart of a Republican review of the 2020 election.

The five cities were among about 200 communities in the state that received funds from the Center for Tech and Civic Life to help run their elections during the coronavirus pandemic. Together, the five cities received $8.8 million, dwarfing the amounts that went to the other municipalities.

Courts have thrown out challenges to the grants and confirmed Joe Biden won the state by about 21,000 votes. Republicans in the state Assembly say they want to know more about the grants, which were bankrolled by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

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Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman is leading the review for Assembly Republicans at a cost to taxpayers of $676,000. He has put interviews with city officials on hold, in part because Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has sued to quash some of his subpoenas.

The five cities — Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Kenosha and Racine — lean Democratic. They used the funds to buy ballot tabulators and other equipment, purchase ballot drop boxes, pay poll workers higher wages, increase the number of early voting sites and mail information about voting to the public.

Focus on Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein

Republicans have put much of their attention on Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, a consultant with the National Vote at Home Institute who helped some of the cities.

In September 2020, Spitzer-Rubenstein asked if his team could make a recording of a computer screen to see how Milwaukee generated reports on absentee ballots, according to emails that have been released under the state's open records law. Spitzer-Rubenstein told Claire Woodall-Vogg, the director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, that his team might be able to help her simplify the process.

Woodall-Vogg denied the request.

“While I completely understand and appreciate the assistance that is trying to be provided, I am definitely not comfortable having a non-staff member involved in the functions of our voter database, much less recording it,” she wrote.

Woodall-Vogg said recently the daily reports she was producing showed the addresses associated with absentee ballots. The reports showed how many ballots had been requested, how many had been returned to the city and how many had been sent back to voters so they could correct errors on their ballot envelopes.

The reports included addresses but not the names of voters or other information, she said. She said she had hoped to use the data for an online map of voting trends but had to abandon the effort as she got busier with the election.

Help offered in Green Bay

Spitzer-Rubenstein also offered help to Green Bay.

Kris Teske, who was the city clerk there at the time, declined Spitzer-Rubenstein’s assistance, according to a report by the city. He began to help the city in August, after connecting with Celestine Jeffreys, who was then the chief of staff to Mayor Eric Genrich and now serves as city clerk.

Spitzer-Rubenstein advised Green Bay officials on ways to make their election run more smoothly. He made recommendations but had no decision-making authority and did not perform any work involving ballots, according to the city.

Spitzer-Rubenstein recommended increasing the number of early-voting stations at city hall and increasing staff there to ensure ballots didn’t leave the premises. Teske opposed the changes but the mayor’s office implemented them, according to the report.

Spitzer-Rubenstein was listed as the contact to pick up keys at the KI Convention Center, where the city counted absentee ballots. Despite that listing, Spitzer-Rubenstein was never given the keys, according to the city.

On Election Day, Spitzer-Rubenstein was stationed at the city’s absentee-ballot counting center. Spitzer-Rubenstein, who wore a name tag that identified him as a city employee rather than as a consultant, directed poll workers to tables where they could process ballots. When they had questions, he helped them find answers in an election manual or put them in touch with the chief election inspector, according to the city’s report.

Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno complained about Spitzer-Rubenstein’s activities to Meagan Wolfe, the director of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Wolfe told city officials that consultants should not be at the absentee-counting center unless they were serving in specific roles, such as observers.

Around noon, city officials told Spitzer-Rubenstein he could no longer serve in his advisory capacity but could be an observer. Spitzer-Rubenstein left soon afterward.

He returned after the polls closed at 8 p.m. He wore a city employee name tag until an observer complained and he switched to one that designated him as an observer.

He left around 1 a.m., after a disagreement with Kim Wayte, who then served as deputy clerk. The city’s report did not explain what the disagreement was about.

Republicans say review is needed

Dean Knudson, a Republican who serves on the Elections Commission, said he was troubled by how involved consultants were in Green Bay's election. He said he didn't think the grants were fair because they could increase voter turnout in some parts of the state but not others.

"I hope that Justice Gableman is able to ferret out some of what actually went on because I think there's a need for legislation in that area," he said.

While Knudson supports Gableman's overall review, he expressed qualms about parts of it. He said he didn't think Gableman should have issued subpoenas when all or most of the information he wanted was already publicly available.

Knudson said he believed Gableman should conduct his interviews with city and election officials in public instead of behind closed doors, as he has said he intends.

"I just think this should be a public process," Knudson said. "Ask the questions. Let everybody hear the answers. Let the sunshine in."

Republican Commissioner Bob Spindell said he also backed Gableman's review, saying he thought the grants were inappropriate.

"These questions are out there and they have to be answered," he said.

City officials and Democrats have defended the grants. They have noted no laws bar the grants and have said the cities had to pursue them because the Republican-led Legislature was unwilling to increase funding for elections during the pandemic.

They have called the review ridiculous because Gableman has issued subpoenas riddled with typos, refused to name some of the people he has hired, demanded interviews only to cancel them and said he does not have "any understanding of how elections work."

"Gableman has failed so far to demonstrate even a basic level of competence here," said Rep. Mark Spreitzer, a Beloit Democrat who sits on the Assembly Elections Committee. "The work we've seen publicly from Gableman has been shoddy at best."

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Grants to 5 cities are at the heart of Wisconsin GOP's election review