Wisconsin sheriff wants charges filed over nursing home vote

RACINE, Wis. (AP) — A sheriff is recommending that five members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission be criminally charged for telling local elections officials to send absentee ballots to eight nursing home residents in 2020 instead of sending poll workers to oversee voting there during the coronavirus pandemic.

Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling, a Republican, earlier called on state Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, to investigate election fraud allegations at Mount Pleasant’s Ridgewood Care Center.

Schmaling said so-called Special Voting Deputies should have been sent in to help residents who did not have the mental capacity to vote. Kaul responded that county officials should file charges if they believe election laws were broken.

The commission has said no crimes were committed.