Top state Democrats met today to call on Republican commissioner Robert Spindell to either resign or be removed from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. That comes after Spindell celebrated low voter turnout among Black and Hispanic voters in Milwaukee.
First reported by Urban Milwaukee last week, Spindell made the comments in an email to registered Republicans in the Milwaukee area. In that email, he said, quote “we can be especially proud of the City of Milwaukee casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election with the major reduction happening in overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas,” end quote.
Spindell was first appointed to the state elections commission by former Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald in 2019, and later reappointed by current Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu in 2021.
Democrats say that the comments have no place in election administration , and if he doesn’t step down voluntarily, Majority Leader LeMahieu should remove him from the commission by force.
At a press conference in the state capital today, Democratic Senator LaTonya Johnson of Milwaukee voiced her frustration with Spindell’s sentiments.
“I am angry, I am irritated, and I am frustrated that Bob Spindell, a Republican Member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, whose job is to help control how elections are administered, and is also a fake elector, has praised the public attack on the voting rights of communities of color and the principles of democracy,” Senator Johnson says.
Spindell, who did not respond to WORT’s request for comment by airtime, told the Associated Press that his email was not praising voter suppression in Milwaukee, but instead were praising Republican campaign strategies of opening offices in historically Black neighborhoods, appearing on Black talk radio shows and quote “Negative Black Radio Commercials.”
But Democrats say that this was not real engagement with the community, and doesn’t somehow forgive his comments on the low voter turnout.
In fact, Democratic Senator Kelda Roys of Madison says that this shows that Republicans know they can’t win in heavily Democratic areas like Milwaukee, and instead can only win by suppressing the vote.
“Celebrating voter suppression is antithetical to the mission of the elections commission, and it undermines confidence in the ability of Commissioner Spindell to do his job,” Senator Roys says. “In fact, Spindell’s remarks are disqualifying, he should not be overseeing elections.”
Sam Liebert is the state director of All Voting is Local, a national grassroots advocacy group looking to protect voting rights. He says that Spindell’s comments are especially egregious as they target historically disenfranchised communities.
“What is even more alarming is that he celebrated the fact that those casting fewer ballots were Black and brown voters,” Liebert says. “These communities were particularly targeted and impacted by a concerted effort to erect barriers to the ballot, and the spreading of disinformation regarding voting and elections these past several years.”
Democratic Senator Mark Spreitzer of Beloit, who sits on the Senate elections committee, says that Spindell’s comments are just par for the course for Republicans.
“When Republicans don’t know how else to win elections, they start by trying to suppress the vote,” Senator Spreitzer says. “Last session, Republicans attempted to pass more than a dozen bills to restrict the vote, and it is clear that they didn’t stop with their failed legislation. As Mr. Spindell admitted, persuading voters took a back seat to suppressing the vote.”
While Senator LaTonya Johnson says that the group hasn’t spoken with LeMahieu about the issue, she says that they shouldn’t have to.
“As a person of color, why should I have to go to Senator LeMahieu to ask him to remove Bob Spindell from the commission,” Senator Johnson says. “He heard these comments the same way that we did. Not only do these comments reflect poorly on Bob Spindell, it reflects poorly on the entire Republican party. I don’t think anything else needs to be said.”
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu did not respond to WORT’s request for comment by airtime.
In 2020, Spindell served as one of the ten false electors who attempted to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Donald Trump. Those electors acted after the state Supreme Court ruled that Biden had in fact won the state of Wisconsin.
Yesterday, a Dane County judge dismissed an open records complaint against Spindell, but a related lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission related to his conduct will go forward, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
Spindell is also a defendant in two other lawsuits related to being a fake elector, both brought by the Madison-based group Law Forward.
Photo courtesy: WORT Flickr
