Judge to order Wisconsin Elections Commission to reconsider fake elector complaint without the commissioner who joined the scheme

MADISON - The Wisconsin Elections Commission will be ordered to reconsider a complaint filed against a group of Republicans who posed as electors for Donald Trump in 2020 despite Joe Biden's presidential victory in Wisconsin.

Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington said Monday he will order the state's bipartisan elections commission take up the complaint without the participation of one of its own commissioners who participated in the scheme to submit false paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence and the National Archives claiming to be electors for Trump, despite his loss in Wisconsin.

Bob Spindell, a Republican commissioner on the state's top election oversight board, was sued in April and May 2022 in separate lawsuits over his role in the scheme that included similar efforts by Republicans in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. Spindell and other false electors have defended their actions, calling it a legal strategy in the event the election results were overturned by a lawsuit.

Remington said Monday he plans to issue the written order next week after the plaintiffs, Spindell, and elections commissioners agreed the commission should reconsider the complaint without Spindell’s participation. Remington's order will vacate the commission's March 2022 decision not to sanction the group of Republicans.

Biden beat Trump by about 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. Trump sought recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, which confirmed Biden's win. Trump sued and the state Supreme Court upheld the results on a 4-3 vote on Dec. 14, 2020.

Less than an hour later, Democrats met in the state Capitol to cast the state's 10 electoral votes for Biden.

At the same time, the fake electors gathered in another part of the Capitol to fill out paperwork claiming Trump had won. They submitted their filings to Congress, the National Archives, a federal judge and Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette.

At the time, the fake electors said they held the meeting to ensure the state's electoral votes were cast for Trump if a court later determined he was the true winner of the state.

The plan was spelled out after the election by attorney Kenneth Chesebro in a memo dated Nov. 18, 2020 — the same day Trump asked for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties.

The filings from the fake electors in Wisconsin and elsewhere helped Trump and his allies argue the results were in dispute as they tried to prevent Congress from finalizing them.

The state elections commission in March 2022 unanimously decided not to sanction the 10 Republicans — including Spindell — for falsely claiming to be presidential electors in 2020 after receiving a complaint from Madison attorney Jeff Mandell.

Remington is issuing the order in a case filed by the executive director of the state arm of the Service Employees International Union and Madison-based law firms Law Forward and Stafford Rosenbaum against the commission and Spindell that seeks to throw out the commission's finding that Republicans didn't violate election laws when they claimed to be Wisconsin's presidential electors after Biden won the state.

The union's director argues the state Elections Commission mishandled its complaint about the fake electors because it allowed Spindell to participate in its deliberations.

"In retrospect, it was inappropriate for Mr. Spindell not to recuse," Remington said Monday.

Though the initial vote to reject the complaint was unanimous, the outcome of the new deliberations could turn out differently. Two members, Dean Knudson and Julie Glancey, who voted to reject the initial complaint have since been replaced by WEC chairman Don Millis and former Milwaukee County Clerk Joseph Czarnezki, respectively.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Elections Commission must reconsider fake elector case