For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Justin Giorgio
[email protected]
WISCONSIN – Yesterday, Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Brad Schimel was on WISN radio talking about making the election “too big to rig” and election fraud. The Democracy Defense Project Wisconsin board, including former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, Former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, Former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate released the following joint statement:
“Just two weeks before the April 1st election, we don’t discourage people from voting early but phrases like ‘too big to rig’ cast doubt on our election process in Wisconsin, when just the opposite is true. We saw in November a resounding endorsement of the security of our election system as, for the 3rd election in a row, Wisconsinites elected both a Republican and a Democrat statewide. Wisconsin has some of the most robust protections against voter fraud in the country, including provisions like ID requirements that are promoted by some of those folks casting doubt on our process.
As it pertains to the timing with which ballots are counted in Milwaukee County, there is no evidence of fraud in Milwaukee, but the failure of the state to allow early counting on absentee ballots before the close of polls feeds into conspiracy theories. We again urge the Governor and Legislature to fix this flaw. Wisconsin is only one of a few states that doesn’t allow early counting.
Election integrity and ensuring voters know our elections are safe is a bipartisan issue and we encourage everyone in Wisconsin to use their right to vote in the next two weeks.”
Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Brad Schimel on WISN Radio 3/18/2025:
“Get our votes banked, make this too big to rig so we don’t have to worry that at 11:30 in Milwaukee they’ll find bags of ballots that they forgot to put in the machines like they did in 2018 or in 2024 when Eric Hovde was ahead all night and then of a sudden Milwaukee County changed that. I don’t know what happened, if there was fraud there, there’s no way for me to know that. All I know is this, we need to turn our votes out. That’s the best insulation we have against any potential fraud is just get our people to the polls.”
About the Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin
The Democracy Defense Project (DDP) is a new organization led by a bipartisan group of former elected officials and leaders across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin who will work to defend the transparency, safety, security and validity of our nation’s electoral system. We will publicly defend those who have sworn to uphold the rule of law and to be an active voice against any individual or organization that would look to undermine lawful election processes and outcomes. The Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin board includes former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate.
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More information on the Democracy Defense Project can be found at
https://www.democracydefenseproject.org/wi.
Published: Mar 20, 2025
