Democrats Demand Ouster of Elections Commission Official for Bragging About Suppressing Voters of Color

Bob Spindell, chair of the 4th Congressional District Republican Party, said he won’t quit despite the uproar over an email he sent celebrating reduced Black and Hispanic turnout in Milwaukee.

Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature are demanding that Bob Spindell, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, resign or be removed from his post after bragging about his party’s role in reduced Black and Hispanic voter turnout in Milwaukee last year.

“The idea that we have somebody who would want to game the system sitting on the Elections Commission is abhorrent,” said Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison), chair of the Assembly Democratic caucus, on UpNorthNews Radio. “And it’s time for Bob Spindell to go.”

Spindell, the chair of the 4th Congressional District Republican Party, is also one of 10 fake electors who signed fraudulent documents claiming former President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin, when he did not. 

According to reporting from Urban Milwaukee, Spindell sent an email on Jan. 2 to more than 1,700 people bragging about the party’s “well thought out multi-faceted plan” that led to reduced turnout among voters of color.

“We can be especially proud of the City of Milwaukee (80.2% Dem Vote) casting 37,000 less votes than cast in the 2018 election with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas,” Spindell wrote. The GOP plan, according to Spindell’s email, included: 

“Biting Black Radio Negative Commercials run [the] last few weeks of the election cycle straight at Dem Candidates,” and;

“A substantial & very effective Republican Coordinated Election Integrity program resulting with lots of Republican paid Election Judges & trained Observers & extremely significant continued Court Litigation.”

“This is unacceptable behavior from somebody who is part of a body charged with ensuring that we have fair and impartial elections,” said Rep. Subeck. “We should be working to ensure that every single Wisconsinite has the opportunity to vote and has easy access to the ballot. And instead, what Bob Spindell is bragging about Republicans doing is just the opposite. It was ensuring that a certain group of people who Republicans don’t find favorable to them—and in this case, people of color—didn’t have a fair opportunity to vote.”

RELATED: The Jan. 6 Insurrection Was Not an Isolated Event. In Wisconsin, the List of Suspicious or Illegal Activities Is Long. (June 2022 editorial)

Spindell told the Cap Times he won’t resign from the Elections Commission. And while Democrats also put pressure on Senate Republican Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) to act, it is unlikely he will rescind Spindell’s appointment to the panel made up of three Republicans and three Democrats.