A nonprofit group that became a point of controversy for distributing hundreds of millions of dollars in election grants during the 2020 presidential campaign is releasing a fresh round of money to local election offices, including in states where Republican lawmakers tried to ban the practice.
Author Archives: Harm Venhuizen / Associated Press
Harm Venhuizen is a state government reporter with The Associated Press in Madison, Wisconsin, primarily covering elections and voting rights. Prior to this, Venhuizen interned at Military Times. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served as editor-in-chief of Chimes, the student paper. During his time at Chimes, he earned recognition for his investigative coverage of controversial personnel decisions, sexual assault and university employment policies against same-sex marriage. Venhuizen grew up on a small farm in rural Wisconsin, and spent a summer working as a wildfire firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service.
Posted inGovernment
Wisconsin election officials weigh changes to military voting
Wisconsin election officials are weighing whether changes to military absentee voting are needed after a top Milwaukee election official was charged with fraud in false requests for military absentee ballots just days before the Nov. 8 election.
Posted inGovernment
Can Wisconsin Gov. Evers and GOP Legislature work together?
Can newly reelected Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the even-more Republican Wisconsin Legislature work better over the next two years than they did the previous four? That’s the $5 billion question.
Posted inGovernment
Milwaukee elections worker fired over false ballot requests
A top Milwaukee elections official has been fired after sending falsely obtained military absentee ballots to the home of a Republican state lawmaker who has been an outspoken critic of how the 2020 election was administered, the city’s mayor said Thursday.
Posted inGovernment
Barnes’ Senate bid may ride on Milwaukee’s Black turnout
Standing beside the pulpit at King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church on a crisp fall Sunday morning, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes was preaching to the choir — they were assembled behind him, clad in blue and gold robes.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects challenge to Kohler golf course over parkland swap
Conservatives on the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a conservation group couldn’t challenge an agency’s decision to sell state park land for the construction of a high-end golf course along the shores of Lake Michigan.