Voters all across Wisconsin who are concerned about election integrity will not be silenced by the efforts to distract and deflect that keep popping up. The latest is a new organization that calls itself the Democracy Defense Project (DDP). Led by former elected officials from across 8 states including Wisconsin, the DDP refers to itself as a bipartisan organization working to restore trust in our election system. Their website asserts that the “problem” is the erosion of faith in our democracy caused by politicians advancing “false narratives” about “stolen elections.” They warn that mistrust in the electoral system is putting democracy at grave risk. They give no indication they understand that to be trusted, you must be trustworthy.
Two of its members, Republican J.B. Van Hollen and Democrat Mandela Barnes, wrote an opinion piece published in last Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (JS) entitled “Two Things Wisconsin Must do to Boost Trust in our Elections.” They make a number of statements that expose either their ignorance or dishonesty. Van Hollen and Barnes inform the readers that, “We joined the Democracy Defense Project to help educate Wisconsin voters about the steps being taken to protect our elections…” They go on to propose their solutions. “We can undercut the arguments made by election deniers with simple fixes” – counting absentee ballots before election day and implementing a standard set of rules for drop boxes. They close with, “It’s time to figure out why folks continue to doubt these results and address them…”
Ignorance or dishonesty. Van Hollen and Barnes didn’t come close to the real issue with their two simple fixes. There is nothing to “figure out.” Wisconsin elections are unverifiable. System flaws make it impossible to substantiate that every vote cast has been cast by an eligible voter. Until this becomes the focus of those who are trying to “help” us, we will know they are simply pretenders. Until the problems are corrected and our elections verifiable, voters will continue, appropriately, to mistrust the results. Two of the major flaws have been well-documented and are priorities for immediate correction: 1. The Wisconsin Registered Voter List contains the names of more than 4 million ineligible voters, creating a large reservoir for sophisticated hacking. Requiring the Registered Voter List to contain only the names of currently eligible voters is the responsibility of the Wisconsin state legislators. They have ignored demands from their constituents to address this. 2. There have been at least 250,000 Wisconsin driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens who reside in the state legally. These licenses are identical to those issued to citizens and can easily be used fraudulently as ID for voter registration or casting a ballot. It is the responsibility of the Wisconsin state legislators to require these driver’s licenses to be clearly designated “not for voting.” They have refused to correct the problem. These are the real simple fixes. There is no credible defense of these serious threats to election integrity.
Who Are J.B. Van Hollen and Mandela Barnes?
Van Hollen is a lawyer who hails from northwestern Wisconsin. In 1993, three years after getting his law degree, Governor Tommy Thompson appointed him to District Attorney of Ashland County and later to District Attorney of Bayfield County. He was also appointed to a US Attorney position in Wisconsin before being elected Attorney General of Wisconsin in 2007, a position he held until 2015.
It is common for elected officials to join lobbying firms when they leave office. Through lobbying, their political connections are translated into big money and influence. In 2018 Van Hollen joined the high-powered lobbying firm of Michael Best Strategies. Michael Best Strategies reported more than $197 million in gross revenue in 2023 “giving clients the tools they need to navigate the inner workings of government and public policy”.
Mandela Barnes was a “social justice advocate” early in his career and in 2012, at the age of 26, he was elected to the Wisconsin Assembly. He won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 2018 at the age of 33, was elected, and held that position with Governor Tony Evers from 2019 – 2023. In 2019 he admitted he lied about earning a bachelor’s degree from Alabama A&M. In 2022, he failed in his bid to defeat Senator Ron Johnson. Upon leaving elected office he started the Long Run Political Action Committee to “support diverse and groundbreaking pro-democracy candidates.”
Van Hollen and Barnes are political careerists. They represent the wrong side in the battle we are waging to take our country back. Wisconsin voters, who clearly understand the problems with our election system and know that elections will be vulnerable to cheating until they are verifiable, do not need further education to trust our elections. We need change [and not just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic].
Demand. Expose. Replace.
The will of the people is threatened until election systems are designed to prevent cheating to the extent humanly possible. We will continue to demand that our elected representatives correct the serious flaws in our system. We will expose and replace those legislators who continue to blatantly ignore their constituents and their responsibility. We will not settle for rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. We want an unsinkable ship.
