Wisconsin Elections Commissioner stands by voting comments

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Republican member of Wisconsin’s bipartisan elections commission is standing by comments he made crowing about depressed turnout among Black and Hispanic voters in heavily Democratic Milwaukee, saying he won’t resign as a fellow commissioner and others have called on him to do. Commissioner Robert Spindell said Wednesday that his comments sent in an email to about 1,700 people in December were not bragging about voter suppression. Spindell said his email was an attempt to detail positive steps Republicans did to counter the Democratic message in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Elections Commissioner member Mark Thomsen, a Democratic attorney, called on Spindell to step down, saying he “has shown he cannot be fair.”