A viral X post claims that a Republican official in Wisconsin stole ballots and discarded votes for Kamala Harris.
“Check this out all please! Republician city official actually stealing a whole box full of ballots!” the post reads. Where did they go? Word on the street is he discarded Harris ballots in the privacy of his own office. Yet more R vote theft! Name & shame & prosecute!”
The photo is real, but the claim is false. A Republican official did remove a ballot drop box in Wisconsin, but it occurred more than a month ago and no ballots were affected.
On September 22, Doug Diny, the Republican mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, made local headlines when he removed a ballot drop box from outside of City Hall. Even though authority to manage drop box locations is vested in Wausau’s city clerk—not its mayor—Diny reportedly opposed the placement of the box without the consent of Wausau’s City Council.
The box had previously been present outside of the Wausau City Hall since some time in 2020, but was removed temporarily for repairs earlier this year when its locks were found to be rusted. The city originally intended to return the box in time for the state’s August 2024 primary election, but the repairs took longer than expected.
In a September 25 interview with the New York Times, Diny said he “took steps as the senior elected official in the city to get some things corrected,” citing that the drop box had not been properly monitored or secured. He moved the box into his office and said that it would be kept there “until certain issues that the clerk is aware of [were] addressed.” According to Kaitlyn Bernarde, the Wausau city clerk, the ballot box was not yet functional and still being set up. “It was locked and clearly labeled, ‘Kiosk Closed,’ she wrote in a September 25 statement.
The X post’s claim that Diny discarded ballots that voted for Harris is false: No voters or ballots were immediately affected by the box’s removal. Further, “Since the drop box was closed and locked, no ballots could be accepted,” Bernarde’s statement said. “Again, the drop box was locked and did not have any ballots, payments, or other documents inside.”
By the end of September, the drop box had been restored to its location outside of City Hall. “An official drop box is now secured outside City Hall for residents to submit absentee ballots, payments, and other important city requests as was intended,” Bernarde said in a press release. “The drop box has been re-labeled for use and is secured to the ground.”
In an email to The Dispatch Fact Check, Diny wrote: “After directing the securing of the drop box, adding dedicated flood lighting, upgrading box markings, ordering camera resolution improvements, and reviewing compliance with Wisconsin Elections Commission guidelines, early election activity in Wausau is progressing safely.”
Bernarde did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Dispatch Fact Check.
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