GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Questions are continuing to be raised over the handling of the November Election in Green Bay.
State Senator Andre Jacque (R-De Pere) is joining a call by other Republicans to investigate the election after recently released emails show a significant amount of influence from a left-leaning private group, The Center for Tech and Civic Life, on the operation of the November election.
“The trail of emails speaks for itself,” Jacque told WTAQ. “It is unbelievable the lack of trust the Green Bay City Clerk had with what was going on between the Mayors Office and this outside group.”
A former Democratic operative, Michael Spitzer-Rubenstein, who worked with that group, allegedly held four of the five keys to the KI Center ballroom where ballots were stored and counted, according to an investigation by Wisconsin Spotlight. Spitzer-Rubenstein had asked to help “cure” absentee votes that came in to central count, meaning “correct” ballots that were missing signatures and witness addresses.
The city had accepted a $1.6 million grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which was funded in part by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Former Green Bay City Clerk Kris Teske resigned shortly after the election. The emails show she was frustrated by the staff from the group.
“I am very frustrated, along with the Clerk’s Office. I don’t know what to do anymore. I am trying to explain the process but it isn’t heard. I don’t feel I can talk to the Mayor after the last meeting you, me, Celestine, and the Mayor had even though the door is supposedly open,” the city clerk wrote in late August to Green Bay Finance Director Diana Ellenbecker. “I don’t understand how people who don’t have knowledge of the process can tell us how to manage the election.
Calls made to Genrich’s office were not returned as of press time. But Assemblywoman Kristina Shelton (D-Green Bay) tells FOX 11 the allegation of illegal influence in the November election a partisan attack.
“that assertion that just because someone had access to ballots does not mean that that person impacts ballots or votes at all.”
Shelton says you have to consider the source. She says the report comes from an extreme right-wing organization that’s run by a former Republican assembly member.
The city of Green Bay has posted a statement to its Facebook page which you can read by clicking here.
The Assembly Election Committee will be discussing Green Bay’s November election operations during a hearing in Madison today.
You can read the emails in question for yourself here, courtesy of Wisconsin Spotlight.
