Sheriff Investigating After Waukesha Rep. Mailed Military Ballots

WAUKESHA, WI — After a state representative for Waukesha said she received three military ballots that aren't hers in the mail, the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office has launched an investigation.

State Rep. Janel Brandtjen, the chair of the assembly committee on campaigns and elections, said she received the ballots on Thursday, hardly a week before the 2022 midterm election. They were sent from clerks in Menomonee Falls, South Milwaukee and Shorewood, according to a news release from Brandtjen's office. Patch reached out to clerks from each municipality for comment.

Each ballot was addressed to "Holly" with three different last names, according to Brandtjen. On Tuesday, the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office announced an investigation into the ballots alongside the District Attorney's office.

Brandtjen said she believes someone was trying to make a point about how easy it may be to get military ballots in Wisconsin, asserting that it was "now the second time citizens have tried to point out loopholes in our elections."

The news comes after a Racine man in July told authorities he purposefully ordered other people's ballots, a complaint said. He was eventually charged with election fraud and unauthorized use of personal information. Harry Wait had admitted that he requested two other people’s ballots to be mailed to his Union Grove home in July, according to a criminal complaint.

Brandtjen said she gave the ballots unopened to the Waukesha County Sheriff's Office on Friday morning. Brandtjen also said she contacted the Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm, and a former conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman.

Gableman led a 14-month investigation into Wisconsin's 2020 presidential election but did not find any evidence of voter fraud, according to The Associated Press. Notably, Gableman is now representing Wait, the Racine man charged with election fraud and unauthorized use of personal information, according to AP.