It’s hard to pin down an exact origin for social media posts, which led dozens of Wisconsin 17 year-olds to think they could vote in last April’s presidential primary here. Wisconsin State Elections Commission attorney Nathan Judnic briefed the commission on the finding that nearly 70 such cases were referred to prosecutors.
“We’re primarily basing this on anecdotal information that we recieved,” Judnic told the commision on Tuesday. “I’d be hesitant to put in things that we’re considering facts, when we’re basing it just on anecdotal information and things that we heard.”
The Bernie Sanders campaign was encouraging 17 year-olds to cast primary ballots in states where that’s allowed. Wisconsin is not one of those states. “I know I saw that meme a hundred times. I don’t know that it was a campaign thing,” said Commission vice-chair Ann Jacobs.
The commission’s final version of the report will ascribe that to social media, not any specific candidate’s campaign.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that felony charges of voter fraud remain possible for several Dane County teenagers who allegedly voted illegally as 17-year-olds. Prosecutors in Brown and Kewaunee counties elected not to charge teens who voted illegally there.