Racine County man admits to voter fraud to prove a point

It’s a risky move out of Racine County Thursday.

Harry Wait, a resident and president of H.O.T Government, a watchdog group, admitted to requesting other people’s absentee ballots to be sent to his own home in an effort to prove voter fraud loopholes in Wisconsin.

“I was notified that there may be vulnerability in the online WEC [Wisconsin Election Commission] voting system,” Wait said. “So in order to test them on Tuesday night, we went online and we ordered ballots for Cory Mason, who is the mayor of the city of Racine, and Robin Vos, who happens to be our state assembly leader.”

Wait wouldn’t say who else was involved in the request process, but told 12 News several people wanted to see the results, but he was the one who hit the button to request them.

“After I did notify Robin Vos and Cory Mason that I had successfully logged into the WEC system and ordered their ballots to be sent to me,” he said.

Requesting someone else’s ballot is a crime. Wait is aware of that fact, and said it was worth the risk for “the greater good of the community.”

“If that’s what it takes to stop the fraud in our elections so we can have safe, real safe secure elections yes, I’ll go behind bars,” he said. “We actually videoed this whole piece and we will give it to the government if they want to prosecute me you know. Technically I did commit a crime, but there was no nefarious intentions with it, we just wanted to show how easily it could be done.”

Wait said he also did this process for about six other Wisconsin residents with their permission. He said the WEC and clerk never reached out to those residents to alert them of an address change, or that their ballots were on the way.

He said he has not received those ballots yet as of Thursday, but was told it could take three days to receive them.

Wait also said he reached out to Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling afterward to ask if he would arrest him for the crime.

“What did he tell you,” WISN 12 News reporter Courtney Sisk asked. “That question was actually on the telephone after,’ he answered. “I said does this mean you’re not going to arrest me? And he said ‘hell no.’ So he has no intentions of arresting me, he is very grateful for what I did.”

12 News asked Racine Mayor Cory Mason if he was aware that Schmaling allegedly said that.

“I have not heard of that,” he said Thursday.

Schmaling’s office also didn’t respond for comment, but told WISN 12 earlier Thursday. On Friday, after this initial report was printed, the Racine County Sheriff’s Office released a statement on behalf of Sheriff Christopher Schmaling, stating in part, “criminal arrests, where police physically place a citizen in handcuffs, are made after thorough investigations, and the formulation of probable cause. Criminal arrests are not based upon late-night emails and requests to be arrested.”

“For a long time, there have been people so desperate to find election fraud that I think Mr. Wait has become the very thing that he claims to despise, which is apparently a felon who will steal somebody’s vote,” said Mayor Mason.

Mason told 12 News he spoke with the District Attorney Thursday and they are launching an investigation into the crime.

“Just to see this country continue to go down this path of people wanting so desperately to prove something that’s not true that they’re willing to undermine our democracy, make it harder for people to vote and then overtly steal people’s votes that’s deeply disconcerting,” Mason said.

Wait also told 12 News he allowed someone in Michigan to request his own ballot. Wait said a local clerk called him to let him know there appeared to be something wrong with his request. Wait claims they called him only because they knew who he was, and that he votes in person.

Robin Vos also released a statement saying in part, “I learned that one of the top volunteers for my primary opponent’s campaign admitted to fraudulently posing as me and attempting to steal my ballot. This is voter fraud. His actions are sad. If election integrity means anything, it means we all have to follow the law – Republicans and Democrats alike.”

Thursday evening, the Wisconsin Election Commission called a special meeting to discuss the allegations against the WEC voter site and illegal ballot requests.

Some commissioners pushed to refer criminal charges.

“Is that the purpose of this meeting? Are we making a recommendation that the DA charge Harry Wait? Because I don’t know why else we’re here on an emergency meeting,” said commissioner Mark Thomsen.

“I want to make sure whatever we do we do it with rationality and not knee jerk,” said commissioner Don Millis.

Commissioners did not make any official criminal referrals Thursday night, though they said they will alert local clerks to report fraudulent ballot requests to authorities.

The commission did take action on sending a confirmation postcard to people who have requested an absentee ballot be sent to an address that differs from their home address.

Edit: An earlier version of this story published Thursday stated the Racine County Sheriff’s Office did not respond for comment. The Sheriff’s Office released a statement on Friday which is now included in this article.