Police in Glendale remove election observers for being disruptive while objecting to ballots

Election observers showed up at several polling locations in the Milwaukee area Tuesday, and two of them were removed by police in Glendale for being disruptive while objecting to absentee ballots, Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy said.

Glendale Police removed two observers at separate city polling sites for getting confrontational with poll workers, Kennedy said, but the rest were allowed to stay at polling locations in Glendale, Shorewood and the City of Milwaukee.

The groups of observers declined to be interviewed by the Journal Sentinel, but Kennedy said they challenged absentee ballots in the city for a variety of reasons, including noticing a scratch on the ballot.

Most of the observers challenging the ballots were from outside of Milwaukee County and registered as either as a "concerned citizen," with the Republican Party or an associated group, according to election observer logs at each of the locations.

The observer's efforts are part of a national strategy amongst Republicans to deploy volunteers to monitor and challenge ballots in battleground states , including Wisconsin.

In a statement to the Journal Sentinel, Protect Democracy policy strategist and lawyer Edgar Lin said Wisconsin has relatively strong guardrails in place to prevent a potential mass purge of rolls due to challenges.

Instead, he said local election administrators and poll workers will have to allocate valuable time and resources to address these challenges, "which ultimately diverts their attention from other critical tasks."

Police removed two observers from Glendale polling locations for being disruptive, getting confrontational with poll workers

Before Glendale police arrived at the Bavarian Bierhaus polling location and the Good Hope Elementary School location to remove contentious observers, poll workers issued multiple warnings against hovering too closely and disrupting typical procedures, Kennedy said.

At the other city polling location, Glendale's City Hall, Kennedy said observers complied after being given a warning.

The Journal Sentinel reached out to Glendale police, who said they did not have a police report available and directed all questions to Glendale City Clerk Megan Humitz, who was not immediately available.

The observers contesting absentee ballots were from Waukesha, Norway, Janesville, Richfield and Caledonia, all outside of Milwaukee County, according to the observer logs.

Among those on the logs included Harry Wait, a Racine County resident who was charged in 2022 for fraudulently requesting absentee ballots to prove fraud existed .

Also on the logs was Peter Bernegger, a New London resident who has engaged in relentless legal efforts to prove fraud in the 2020 election. In 2023, Wisconsin Capitol Police served him a warning to cease ‘stalking behavior’ toward Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe and commission staff. In 2009, Bernegger was sent to federal prison after he was convicted of mail fraud and bank fraud .

The election is a primary for the 4th Senate District between two Democratic state representatives — LaKeshia Myers and Dora Drake.

"This is a Democratic primary," Kennedy said. "There is no Republican running for former Senator Taylor, now Judge Taylor's Senate seat. Today's election is between two Democrats to see who gets to be unopposed on July 30, and they're just here causing trouble.

"They just want to disrupt things in a city that goes overwhelmingly Democratic," he said.

Kennedy called it a precursor to "what we're going to see in November."

"We've seen the election denial people, and this is exactly what they're going to try and do," he said. "They're going to say that every single absentee ballot is fraudulent and should not be counted if it's likely a liberal voter."

He said Glendale is likely an easy target due to its overwhelmingly Democratic voting record and having an active Democrat for a mayor.

The 4th Senate District includes portions of Shorewood, Wauwatosa, Glendale and Milwaukee.

Taylor is currently serving as a judge in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 41.

Elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in 2003 and the Wisconsin State Senate in 2004, Taylor served as the first African-American Chair of the influential Senate Judiciary Committee and the first African-American woman to co-chair the powerful Joint Committee on Finance.

Observers also contested absentee ballots in Shorewood and Milwaukee

Observers also challenged absentee ballots in Shorewood and the City of Milwaukee at where poll workers were seen asking observers to move back behind a perimeter of tall, bright orange cones.

Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutiérrez spent the day at the city's central count polling location, 1901 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

She said observers there did put forward challenges, but said, "they do not seem legitimate."

Generally, she appreciates observers, because she said elections should be as transparent as possible. "But of course, our priority is making sure we count and count correctly," Gutiérrez said.

Ann Jacobs, chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission , was also observing at the central count location.

"There have been some interesting challenges to absentee balloting, which the Election Commission has taken the position is completely wrong," she said.

Shorewood Village Clerk Toya Harrell said observers from outside of the county visited the polling site at Village Hall, 3930 N. Murray Ave., for three hours on Tuesday morning.

It did not get contentious at Shorewood, Harrell said, but "people are told certain things and just run with it as the truth," Harrell said.

"I stuck to my guns about what could be challenged, what couldn't be challenged," she said. Last year, Harrell served on the Wisconsin Elections Commission's advisory board for election observers .

Only in "limited, specific circumstances" and through a certain process may a voter’s ability to cast his or her ballot be challenged by an election inspector or other elector under Wisconsin law, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission .

For another elector to bring a challenge, it must be based on personal knowledge or suspicion that the person trying to vote isn’t eligible based on six reasons that include not being a citizen or not being at least 18 years old.

Alison Dirr and Hope Karnopp of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this story.

Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13 .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Police in Glendale remove election observers for being disruptive while objecting to ballots