Leftist Lawfare Firm Sues Madison For Disenfranchising Voters

The leftist lawfare operator behind a litany of election integrity denier causes is now suing the far-left bastion of Madison for failing to count the ballots of nearly 200 voters. The irony is rich, as could be the payout for four plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed by Madison law firm Law Forward. 

Madison election officials, “irrevocably deprived the Voters of their right to vote in the November 2024 general election,” the complaint, filed this week in Dane County Circuit Court, asserts. 

The plaintiffs — thus far — are listed as Madison residents Precious Ayodabo, Jenna Ehab Innab, Amira Sophie Edes Pierotti, and Miriam Yui-Lam Sham. They each are seeking $175,000 in damages, alleging they were disenfranchised in a leftist city whose leaders have long railed against election-integrity efforts they say disenfranchise minorities. 

‘Serious Oversight’

As The Federalist reported in January, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) opened an investigation into the Madison City Clerk’s office after allegations that local elections officials failed to count 193 absentee ballots from three wards cast in the Nov. 5 general election. The commission voted unanimously to open the investigation, citing the “serious oversight.” 

In a letter from Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl to the commission, she says she failed to communicate the problem until more than a month after the Madison election office discovered a first batch of uncounted votes. Even then, Witzel-Behl merely requested help with a “reconciliation override” to enter the “unprocessed” votes into the state’s election system.  

The city of Madison insisted in a press release they were informing the public of the misstep “In the interest of full transparency” — but not until Dec. 26. The city also said it would send out an apology letter to the voters in the three affected wards. 

“[Y]our absentee ballot was not counted at the polls on November 5. This was due to an error made by our office; your certificate envelope was complete, and your ballot should have been processed,” Witzel-Behl acknowledged in the letter. The clerk claimed the uncounted ballots “would not have changed the results of any race or referendum.”

‘Price to Pay’

An apology isn’t going to cut it, Law Forward asserts in the class-action lawsuit. 

“Respondents are liable for this deprivation. Our Supreme Court has held, in the voting context, that ‘a ministerial officer is liable for a wrong done by him acting in his official character, though without malice,’” the lawsuit states. 

Speaking to reporters, Law Forward co-founder Jeff Mandell described the lawsuit as a “necessary and important defense of the right to vote in Wisconsin.” 

“Our message today should resonate with anyone who seeks to disrupt Wisconsin’s votes, absentee ballots or otherwise,” Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson said, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. “If anyone takes steps to violate a Wisconsinites’ [sic] right to vote, there is a price to pay.”

Of course, there’s the potential for some cold, hard cash to be made from the taxpayers of Madison. The hefty $175,000 individual damages amount is, under state law, in excess of the $50,000 maximum award for actions against municipalities, but the leftist law firm shrugged off the cap as unconstitutional.  

Fighting Voter Suppression 

The Madison-based Law Forward firm was “founded in 2020 by lawyers who have worked for Democratic interests in Wisconsin for many years,” charity and activist tracker InfluenceWatch reports. 

Law Forward  bills itself as a protector of democracy, committed to “fair, transparent, and representative government; where Wisconsinites can participate in free, fair elections where their vote counts.” The group’s record shows a commitment to Democrat Party causes, including its lead role in a legally shaky lawsuit against Wisconsin’s alternate electors for President Donald Trump in 2020.

The Trump-antagonistic firm has fought election integrity measures, including Wisconsin constitutional amendments specifying that only U.S. citizens may vote in state elections and ending private funding (Zuckbucks) in election administration. The leftist attorneys have declared legal war on Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature, claiming laws strengthening election security disenfranchise voters. 

“Wisconsin’s ruthless legislative leadership has undertaken a systematic effort to undercut democratic norms and to disenfranchise voters,” Mandell said in a 2020 press release proclaiming Wisconsin progressives’ efforts to “Reverse Assaults on Democracy through the Courts.” 

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has also attacked Republican-led election reform policies, haughtily boasting that her city is a citadel of democracy, a protecter of voting rights. 

“This is such a critical time in our country,” the leftist said in a 2022 press conference promoting voting rights legislation, as reported by the leftist Wisconsin Examiner. “And it really is incumbent on all of us to understand what’s going on and to protect our democracy against the attacks that are coming towards it. Here in Madison, Wis., it has been incessant. We’ve certainly been fighting voter suppression and attacks on democracy for years. But in the past year, it has reached a new level, I think, that is unprecedented.”

It turns out the self-righteous city “fighting voter suppression” admits to suppressing the votes of nearly 200 residents. Now, Madison faces a lawsuit for shoddy election administration. 

At a meeting Friday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission ordered staff to continue the investigation and depose Madison elections officials to find just where things went wrong. Bob Spindell, one of three Republicans on the six-member commission, told The Federalist officials still have several unanswered questions despite hundreds of pages of communications and other records retrieved from the city in WEC’s investigation. 

Spindell said he doesn’t think the clerk and her team did anything “nefarious” in overlooking the ballots, but the fact remains that 193 voters’ ballots didn’t count in a presidential election. 

“The thing that concerns me is that when this was brought to the attention of the clerk, I don’t know what happened. It seems the clerk should have jumped right on this immediately,” Spindell said. “I don’t want to see anybody disenfranchised.” 

Now the leftist city is facing a lawsuit from a leftist lawfare firm arguing exactly that. 

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.