Wisconsin Voter Alliance

Wisconsin Voter Alliance was founded in response to Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) sending $350 million in funding from Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan to local election offices during the 2020 election. It is critical of such funding and campaigns in support of policies that prohibit election offices from accepting donations, especially after it was revealed CTCL’s funding overwhelmingly went to offices in areas that voted for President Joe Biden at higher rates. ^{2 3}

Background

Wisconsin Voter Alliance is a right-of-center nonprofit organization that advocates for election integrity through its publications and engaging in litigation. It was founded in September 2020 and focuses its work on Wisconsin elections. ¹

Wisconsin Voter Alliance supports policies that enforce election integrity regulations, including policies that would update voter registries to remove individuals who had lost their voting rights and implement protection for election-malfeasance whistleblowers. It also is critical of voter registration efforts that it alleges violate the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), private funding of elections, and the staff of the Wisconsin Election Commission. ¹

Advocacy

Wisconsin Voter Alliance campaigns in support of public policies that would prohibit government agencies from accepting money for election administration and specifically cites the Center for Tech and Civic Life’s grantmaking during the 2020 election as the type of funding that it opposes. ⁴

Wisconsin Voters Alliance also advocates policies that would only allow election officials to administer elections. It argues that allowing advocacy groups and other “non-governmental” officials to administer elections can have partisan influences, corrupting the outcome of elections. ⁴

Lawsuits

In December 2020, Wisconsin Voter Alliance filed a lawsuit alongside Wisconsin Assemblymembers Jeff Mursau (R-Crivitz) and David Steffen (R-Green Bay) requesting a federal court to prevent the certification of the states’ electoral college results in Congress. It asked for the state legislatures to vote on the final approval of the 2020 presidential election before the U.S. Congress voted to certify the election results. The lawsuit argued that otherwise, the certification would be “contrary to the constitution” and would invite “cabal, intrigue, and corruption.” ⁵

In October 2023, Wisconsin Voter Alliance filed a civil rights complaint in the United States District Court against the Wisconsin Election Commission for denying Wisconsin Voter Alliance from having a hearing after numerous complaints throughout 2022 and 2023. The lawsuit outlined several Help America Vote Act (HAVA) complaints and accuses the Wisconsin Election Commission of refusing to hold hearings or provide remedies pertaining to the complaints when it is the designated agency to process HAVA complaints. The complaints included allegations that the Wisconsin Election Commission was not properly maintaining voter registrations, that it permitted unlawful overseas absentee voting, and for having policies that prohibit the Wisconsin Election Commission from holding hearings on HAVA complaints when it was accused of the violations. ^{6 7}

In February 2024, Wisconsin Voter Alliance announced that it would be filing a HAVA complaint against the University of Wisconsin-Parkside for employing students in a work-study program where they registered students on campus. The program is funded by the federal government through the Biden administration’s Executive Order 14019, of which Wisconsin Voter Alliance is critical. ⁸

Financials

In 2023, Wisconsin Voter Alliance reported $155,424 in total contributions. ⁹ It also reported $74,650 in total expenses, $58,352 of which were paid to independent contractors. ¹⁰

Leadership

Wisconsin Voter Alliance was founded in 2020 by Ron Heuer in response to the Center for Tech and Civic Life providing funding for election offices in counties that had a significant tendency to vote in favor of Joe Biden. ² Previously, he owned Heuer Consulting LLC and consulted Canadian companies on packaging and shipping. From 2012 to 2016, Heuer served on the Kewaunee County Board of Supervisors and served as County Board Chairman for two of those years. ³