Donald Trump rally
Since losing to Joe Biden in 2020, now-President Donald Trump has been relentless in his assertion that the election was “rigged,” pushing all manner of conspiracies relating to voter fraud regardless of the fact that numerous studies have proven it vanishingly rare. But although voter fraud is exceptionally uncommon, there have been a few cases over recent years. Ironically, they tend to be committed by Trump supporters.
The latest example comes out of Wisconsin, where today conservative activist Henry Wait was found guilty on two counts of misdemeanor election fraud and one count of felony identity theft. The head of a group dedicated to promoting Trump’s claims of election fraud, Wait admitted to requesting the ballots of Republican state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Democratic Racine Mayor Cory Mason without their consent.
His intention, he explained, was to prove that the state’s election system was vulnerable to fraud. In total he requested as many as eight illicit ballots, all of which were flagged by the Wisconsin Elections Commission for fraud.
“I tested the system and the system failed,” Wait said, ignoring that the fraudulent votes had, in fact, been recognized as such, and the irony that he had actually proved the system works.
Wait isn’t the only MAGA supporter convicted of such actions. In 2024, another Wisconsin resident — former Milwaukee election official Kimberly Zapata — was found guilty of using her work-issued laptop to obtain three military absentee ballots using fake voter information. Earlier this month, Trump voter Matthew Laiss was convicted of voting in both Pennsylvania and Florida after unsuccessfully arguing that he should receive immunity under Trump’s pardon of those involved with attempts to overturn the 2020 election. And in 2024, Ohio resident and monthly Trump donor James Saunders was convicted of double voting in two different elections: voting in both Ohio and Florida first in the 2020 presidential election, then the 2022 midterms. While Saunders tried to argue that he’d done it by mistake, the judge didn’t buy that he would repeat the same mix-up twice.
Currently, Trump is fixated on passing the SAVE America Act, an election reform bill that he claims will prevent voter fraud, but that critics argue is an attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters. Trump is desperate to pass the bill before the November midterms, in which the GOP is forecasted to face major defeats.
On Monday, the president pushed congressional Republicans to work to pass the legislation through Easter if necessary.
“Make this one for Jesus,” he said.