MADISON, Wis. (AP) 鈥� A jury convicted a Wisconsin man of election fraud and identity theft for of Republican state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Democratic Racine Mayor Cory Mason without their consent.
Jurors in Racine County on Tuesday found Harry Wait guilty of two misdemeanor election fraud charges and one felony identity theft charge following a two-day trial. He was acquitted of a second count of identity theft.
Wait leads a group that makes false election claims, including that Wisconsin’s elections are riddled with fraud and that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election. in 2020 by about 21,000 votes.
Wait admitted in 2022 that to try to prove that the state鈥檚 voter registration system is vulnerable to fraud. Wait told The Associated Press at the time that he wasn鈥檛 surprised he was charged.
鈥淵ou got to expect to pay some costs sometimes when you are trying to work for the public good,鈥� he said.
His efforts drew praise from Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson in 2022, who called Wait a 鈥渨hite hat hacker.鈥�
After the verdict, Wait that he 鈥渨ould do it again.鈥�
鈥淚 tested the system and the system failed,鈥� he said.
A sentencing date has not been set. Wait鈥檚 attorney Joe Bugni did not respond to an email Wednesday asking whether he would appeal.
Wait, 71, faces up to six years in prison on the felony conviction and up to a year in jail on each of the misdemeanor convictions.
His conviction comes after a found a former Milwaukee election official guilty of misconduct in office after she obtained three military absentee ballots using fake names and Social Security numbers in 2022. Like Wait, Kimberly Zapata argued that she was trying to expose vulnerabilities in the state鈥檚 election system.
Zapata was and sentenced to one year probation.
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