An email from Peter Bernegger has drawn my attention to the following important and developing information concerning Wisconsin voter rolls and the MyVote system. Assistant General Counsel, Ryan Sendelbach, for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities (LWM) provides legal guidance to local governments and municipal officials across the state. According to AI, Sendelbach advises municipal attorneys and local officials on legal issues, writes legal opinions and amicus briefs (friend-of-the-court filings), helps produce legal publications and training for municipalities, and participates in workshops and educational programs for local government professionals. He is also the present Chairman of the Dane County Democratic Party.
In other words, Ryan Sendelbach is a government-focused attorney working behind the scenes in municipal law, helping Wisconsin cities and villages navigate legal issues. He has also has been involved in filings before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on behalf of the LWM.
Individuals with the group, “North of Highway 29” also investigate election irregularities. One of the things they look for is individual’s names who have voted in more than one election district. This group found that Sendelbach had voted in more than one voting district. Peter Bernegger, using just Sendelbach’s name and address in MyVote, confirmed that he is registered to vote in two voting districts. According to Bernegger, both of Sendelbach’s voter registration data have the same phone number and email address with two different addresses. A criminal complaint, filed by Bernegger, was filed against Sendelbach with the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) - “Complainant alleges that Ryan Christoper Sendelbach, a Wisconsin elector, has been continuously and simultaneously registered to vote at two different residential addresses in two different municipalities of Dane County, under two different WisVote voter registration numbers, both reflected as Active” since August 22, 2022 encompassing not fewer than eleven Wisconsin elections. This does not prove that Sendelbach voted in two different towns; only that he was registered in two different towns. Wisconsin Statue 12.13(1)(c) states that someone who maintains residences in two different municipalities cannot register as an elector in both places for the purpose of voting in the same election.
Hot Government is also working on election system weaknesses. In Hot Government’s press release, it states, “A petition, a Help America Vote Act (HAVA) complaint before the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), and a separate federal HAVA complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice all raise the same urgent issue: Wisconsin’s MyVote website violates federal internet security standards and election‑security guidelines for online voter registration and absentee ballot requests.
HOT Government President, Jay Stone mentioned that a petition and complaints were filed to WEC to help expedite correcting the election system/process. Stone states that ‘Wisconsin should not allow voters to register and request absentee ballots through an online system that does not require a username, password, and an additional factor to authenticate MyVote users. … Since WEC already has multi‑factor authentication for Badger Voters and WisVote, there is no reason Wisconsin voters should receive less protection when accessing MyVote.”
The Hot Government article states that “The petition specifically challenges the security of MyVote’s online processes for voter registration, voter-record changes, and absentee ballot requests, arguing that these sensitive functions should not rely on weak or easily obtained personal identifiers. Stone contends that MyVote violates federal internet security requirements and widely accepted website security guidelines. Instead of following best practices like multi‑factor authentication, WEC has left MyVote’s online registration and absentee‑ballot request functions with virtually no meaningful authentication.”
The Division of Enterprise Technology (DET) protects and serves many of the State of Wisconsin’s websites, but not MyVote. For the security of WEC’s MyVote website, MyVote's security should be added to DET’s responsibilities. WEC’s servers are already hosted and protected by DET, but WEC has voted against DET protection of the MyVote website. Why?
Also recently, the US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against WEC to force WEC to turn over its full, unredacted statewide voter file. Another Wisconsin state lawsuit filed by a coalition (of leaders and advocacy groups) challenges the Wisconsin congressional maps system overseen by WEC as unconstitutional gerrymandering. There is also a lawsuit involving uncounted ballots in Madison that WEC is indirectly involved in.
Many Wisconsinites have been drawing attention to the many weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the Wisconsin election system, but it seems like these issues have been slow-walked and are not being addressed or fixed, Why?