Brad Schimel touts support of sheriff who backed voter fraud myths

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel is campaigning with a Dodge County sheriff who pushed voter fraud conspiracies and urged election officials to make voting more difficult.

Schimel served as the Republican attorney general of Wisconsin from 2015 to 2019. He is now a judge on the Wisconsin Circuit Court.

In January, Schimel’s campaign put out a video in which Sheriff Dale Schmidt praised Schimel’s handling of sexual assault cases. Schmidt previously appeared in a Schimel television ad.

Schmidt sparked controversy in August 2024 when he emailed Dodge County election officials urging them to not use absentee ballot drop boxes in the November election. The emails falsely claimed that drop boxes enable voter fraud.

“I strongly encourage you to avoid using a drop box,” Schmidt wrote.‘“Even if set up the best way possible to avoid the potential for fraudulent activity, criminal activity many times finds ways to subvert even the best plans.”

This claim was notably pushed by President Donald Trump as a part of his conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen. Multiple judicial reviews have found no evidence to support it. Schmidt’s messages also bucked a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that affirmed drop boxes were secure and permissible.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, the town clerk of Ashippun responded to Schmidt that she was allowing a drop box that was monitored by a security camera. Schmidt replied that Ashippun was the only municipality in his jurisdiction doing so and suggested he would publicly criticize the decision if asked. Fifteen minutes later, the clerk responded that she would remove the drop box.

The town clerk of Beaver Dam told Schmidt that while she wasn’t allowing drop boxes, she was reaching out to voters who had mistakenly placed ballots in a tax payment drop box, asking them to resubmit in person. Schmidt raised concerns about this practice and warned that she could face negative media coverage if it continued. 

“I think this would be best for the town, best for the integrity of the election process, and best to keep you out of any media (or social media) story that might pop up if people find the town does accept them,” Schmidt wrote.

The Beaver Dam clerk amended her practice to comply with Schmidt’s wishes.

Schimel has also flirted with voter fraud conspiracies. In 2020, he suggested that a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling disqualifying the Green Party’s presidential candidate was the reason Trump lost the election. As a judge, he blocked the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2022 and 2023 from allowing voters to fix errors that would cause their ballots to be discarded.

In January, Schimel defended Trump’s plan to pardon the violent protesters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Schimel’s opponent in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race is Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford. The outcome of the April 1 election will determine the ideological tilt of the court. Trump has endorsed Schimel’s campaign.

Schmidt has made other controversial remarks. In the aftermath of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL, he said that “participation trophies” and parents failing to discipline their children was creating a culture of violence. Seventeen people were killed in the attack.

Schimel also touted the endorsement of a Chippewa County sheriff accused of sexual harassment.

Spokespeople for Schimel and Schmidt declined to comment on this story.