Engelbrecht also said the group is looking to implement Dropbox monitoring in multiple states and mentioned Michigan as a possible location, although most of its focus appears to be on Wisconsin.
In his interview with Wallnau, Engelbrecht added that he was working with “three influential sheriffs” in Wisconsin, although he did not name them.
WIRED reached out to two dozen sheriffs in Wisconsin’s largest counties, but did not find a single one who would take part in the monitoring program. Engelbrecht and Truth the Vote did not respond to multiple requests for comment from WIRED seeking the names of sheriffs who agreed to take part in the program.
“True the Vote has reached out to the Sheriff’s Office to raise ideas related to election integrity and potential violations of law,” Deputy Inspector Patrick R. Esser of the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department tells WIRED. “True the Vote proposed the idea of donating cameras to the sheriff’s office to monitor election sites, however, the obstacles associated with that idea made it impractical.”
While most sheriff’s offices contacted by WIRED did not respond to requests for comment, several, including the offices in Buffalo County and Polk County, said they had never even heard of the drop box initiative. “I knew nothing about the plan and will not be participating,” Buffalo County Sheriff Mike Osmond tells WIRED. “I’m not sure if they’re legal or not, but I have no interest in implementing such a program.”
In his newsletter this week, Engelbrecht noted that the group may not have been successful in recruiting enough sheriffs, writing that they would provide cameras to “sheriffs when possible, and to others when necessary.”
It’s also unclear whether sheriffs would have jurisdiction over the drop boxes because they are county officials and elections are not run by county officials in Wisconsin.
“We’re a little different than some states,” says Ann Jacobs, chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is charged with administering elections in the state. “In Wisconsin, our elections are conducted at the municipal level. We have approximately 1,850 municipal officials who handle municipal elections.”
Following the Supreme Court’s decision in July, the Wisconsin Elections Commission implemented guide for officials on how to deploy ballot drop boxes. “The guidance does not prohibit livestreaming of ballot drop boxes, and there is no such prohibition in Wisconsin law,” Riley Vetterkind, the public information officer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, tells WIRED.
However, if such surveillance interferes with voting, it could lead to criminal charges carrying penalties of up to six months in prison.
“It really depends on what they do with the information they get, and my hope is that they don’t go out and attack voters, although I suspect that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” Jacobs says.
The claims made in the 2000 mules Conspiracy film centered on voters who dropped off more than one ballot in drop boxes. However, Jacobs notes that Wisconsin voters are allowed to drop off more than one ballot in a drop box if they are doing so for a disabled or ill family member, which could lead to tensions with drop box supervisors if there is any confusion over that authorization.
It’s also unclear where these cameras would be located, given that they would have to be permanently on-site to provide 24-hour coverage. “What they can’t do is go and just put a camera in, say, a Milwaukee city library and point it at a mailbox,” Jacobs says. “I guess in some places, maybe they could figure it out, but I don’t think there are many places I can think of where that would actually work.”
