Watchdog group files formal complaint in Wisconsin alleging 'private control over election process'

A formal complaint filed in Wisconsin on Thursday alleges that public officials allowed private agents to "control significant aspects of the 2020 elections," up to and including vote counting and the curing of disputed ballots. 

The filing with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, announced in a press release from the election integrity watchdog group the Amistad Project, claims that "emails obtained through public records requests" revealed that the Green Bay, Wisconsin mayor's office "handed over the keys to the [vote] counting room" to a local Democratic operative, one who "worked with the Center for Tech and Civic Life to bring in Democrat political consultants and lawyers to set election policy in the presidential election."

The Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit voting advocacy group, generated controversy during the 2020 election for having plowed millions of dollars into local election systems in what it said was an effort to ensure safe and easy voting last year. 

The Amistad Project claimed that "several other left-leaning political advisors and lawyers [were] involved in deciding Green Bay’s internal counting room policy and the city’s targeting specific voter demographics favorable to Democrat Party candidates for outreach and voter turnout efforts."

“Private interests dictating how government manages elections ensures public doubt about election outcomes and involves government in playing favorites,” Phill Kline, the director of the Amistad Project, said in the release. 

The Amistad Project "also filed a document detailing the minimum investigatory effort necessary to gain an understanding of who managed the 2020 election," the press release said.