Man charged with election fraud after obtaining several absentee ballots to prove election fraud is possible

A man from Racine County, Wisconsin has been charged with election fraud, Wisconsin’s Department of Justice confirmed on Thursday.

Harry Wait falsely obtained absentee ballots for both Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason in an attempt to prove that election fraud is possible.

Wait was formally charged on Thursday with two counts of election fraud along with two counts of unauthorized use of an individual’s personal information in relation to his fraudulent scheme.

“I’m glad I did it. I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Wait told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel during an interview on Thursday.

An investigator with the DOJ’s Division of Criminal alleged that Wait requested 8 ballots and 6 out of the 8 individuals he asked gave him permission to use their ballot.

“The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that the integrity of our elections is protected from alleged intentional violations of the law,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a press statement.

Wait spoke freely about his crime and also initiated contact with Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and several other authority figures in regard to his actions.

He sent one email to Schmaling, Mason and Vos where he said “I stand ready to be charged for exposing these voting vulnerabilities when I ordered Mason’s and Vos’s absentee ballot online, all without providing a photo I.D. or identifying myself.”

Wait spoke to the Journal Sentinel back in July where he said that he “put in the name Robin Vos, clicked his address and hit absentee, then I selected a new address and successfully ordered it.”

Wait said he then rang a further ten people in Wisconsin and enquired as to whether he could order absentee ballots using their names. Wait said this was successful too. 

“Basically, I committed a crime when I ordered them,” Wait said. “I emailed Sheriff Schmaling, asked if he was going to arrest me and he said ‘hell no.”’ When The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called Wait for comment, he told the reporter to “read between the lines.”