The city of Green Bay has allegedly been violating state law by allowing new voters to cast ballots the same day they register, JustTheNews reported. The Public Interest Fund, a conservative legal group, lodged a formal complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission Monday.
The complaint was filed against Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys, who is required by law to verify new registrations prior to allowing someone to vote. "Same-day voter registration allows people to cast votes with verification of their eligibility after an election," Lauren Bowman Bis, communications director for PILF, told the news outlet.
"This post-verification system makes same-day registration vulnerable to being used to cast fraudulent votes. Elections work best when voter registration eligibility is determined before an election," Bis said.
Last week, Wisconsin held its primary election in the state. Both parties have chosen their candidates already, but this could present a problem heading into the presidential election in November.
The situation has continued since the 2020 primary election. Jeffreys has only disqualified "two registrants and referred one individual to the District Attorney" since then despite having 270 postcards b0unced back as undeliverable, the complaint noted.
Christian Adams, PILF president, pointed out that "the problem with same-day registration, of course, is you don't know, in fact, if they're eligible to vote" while casting a ballot. "Well, that's what Wisconsin law does, is they require a verification mailing, and if the mailing bounces, the DA is supposed to investigate and possibly prosecute," Adams said.
The problem extends throughout the state, but the complaint specifically targets the clerk in Green Bay. "The city of Green Bay is ignoring Wisconsin law by not investigating whether registrants are using improper addresses on Election Day," Adams said Monday in a statement.
"Election Day registration must have safeguards that ensure eligibility to vote. In Wisconsin, that only happens after their vote has already been counted, if it happens at all," Adams explained.
"This complaint seeks to require the law to be followed so that any bad actor knows there will be consequences for abusing the Election Day voter registration process," he said. So far, there has been no response from the city clerk's office.
Wisconsin is a swing state that former President Donald Trump lost by a little over 20,000 votes in 2020, Fox News reported at the time. His legal team filed a lawsuit that contended that there were illegal absentee votes and others that were cast without proper verification.
The state's Supreme Court reviewed the challenge but rejected it on an administrative error in filing it too late. "Regrettably, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in their 4-3 decision, refused to address the merits of our claim," Trump attorney Jim Troupis said.
"This ‘Cert Petition’ asks them to address our claims, which, if allowed, would change the outcome of the election in Wisconsin. Three members of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice, agreed with many of the President’s claims in written dissents from that court’s December 14 order," Troupis added.
The 2020 presidential election ushered in several unprecedented procedures, including widespread early and mail-in balloting. The narrative has always been that it was still a fair election despite these abnormalities and fresh opportunities for fraud.
However, Trump once again seems to be proven correct that something strange has been happening in the swing state. If this doesn't get corrected soon, there could be a repeat of the last presidential election where people mistrust the system.
