Who received the voter purge letter? State lawmakers, a cabinet secretary and a former UW chancellor

MADISON - Among the thousands of voters flagged to be possibly removed from Wisconsin's voter rolls are two state lawmakers, a cabinet secretary, a Milwaukee County supervisor and a former University of Wisconsin chancellor.

Election officials in October asked more than 230,000 people to update their voter registrations because they believed they had moved. The letters triggered an ongoing legal battle over whether the recipients should be quickly taken off the rolls.

State officials for months declined to make public the list of those who had been sent the letters but relented this week and released the list under the state's open records law.

The list reveals that a smattering of public officials were among the thousands of voters who were sent the letters last year. Most of the officials confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they had recently moved and said they had updated their voter registrations or planned to do so soon.

Among those who were targeted were Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam; Rep. David Crowley, D-Milwaukee; Workforce Development Secretary Caleb Frostman; Milwaukee County Supervisor Sequanna Taylor and former UW Extension Chancellor Cathy Sandeen.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission planned to give people about a year and a half to update their voter registrations or confirm that they had not moved. The commission planned to take people off the rolls in 2021 if they had not acted by then.

Three voters with the help of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty sued in November, arguing the voters had to be taken off the rolls if they had not acted within 30 days of the letters being sent.

Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy ruled in their favor and ordered the commission to take people off the rolls. But an appeals court on Jan. 14 blocked his decision for the time being, saying the commission was likely to ultimately win the case.

For now, the voters remain on the rolls.

Those who move must update their voter registration, which they can do online, at their clerk's office or at the polls on election day. Voters can see their registration status and update it at www.myvote.wi.gov.

Officials say they have moved

Born said he moved from one part of Beaver Dam to another over the summer.

"When I was contacted about updating my voter address, I simply went online and very quickly and easily updated my voter address," he said in a statement.

Crowley, who moved within Milwaukee last spring, said he got the letter from the state Elections Commission only because he had had his mail forwarded from his old address. He said elections officials should be sending letters to people's new addresses, not their old ones.

"If we wouldn’t have done forwarding, we never would have received that postcard," said Crowley, who is running for county executive. "It’s kind of backwards.”

The Elections Commission sent the letters to the addresses people used on their voter registrations but ensured that they could be forwarded, said Reid Magney, a spokesman for the commission. It sent them to the addresses already on file to help make sure that the voters would get them even if they hadn't moved, he said.

Frostman won a special election for state Senate in 2018 but lost the seat in that fall's regular election. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers named Frostman his workforce development secretary last year and Frostman moved from Sturgeon Bay to Madison to take the job.

Frostman said he did not recall getting a letter from the state. He said he plans to update his voter registration so he can vote in the spring elections.

Taylor, who serves as both a county supervisor and Milwaukee Public Schools Board member, confirmed through a spokesman she had recently moved.

Sandeen in 2018 left her post at UW to become chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage.

In response to the letters, the Milwaukee County Board is considering spending $50,000 on efforts to assist with voter registration and voter education. That effort, to be voted on next week, is being led by Theodore Lipscomb Sr., the board's chairman and a candidate for county executive.

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.