Wisconsin elections commissioner blasted for voting comments

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A Democratic member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission is calling for a Republican member who bragged about GOP efforts to suppress votes in Milwaukee to resign from the bipartisan panel.

Commissioner Robert Spindell’s comments sent in an email to Republicans in the 4th Congressional District were first reported on Tuesday by Urban Milwaukee.

On Wednesday, fellow Commissioner Mark Thomsen, a Democratic attorney, said Spindell should step down from the six-member commission. Thomsen tweeted that Spindell “has shown he cannot be fair and should resign.”

Spindell provided The Associated Press with a similar email he said he sent in December. That message also heralded the drop in voters in Milwaukee but described it differently. Spindell said that his comments sent in an email to about 1,700 people 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.