A Racine County jury found Harry Wait guilty on three of four charges, including two counts of election fraud and one count of identity theft.
READ ALSO | Supporters fill Racine County courtroom as Harry Wait begins trial for election fraud charges Monday
The verdict was reached after Wait spent about an hour on the stand in his own defense today. Throughout the two-day trial, Wait had three to four dozen supporters in the courtroom.
During a contentious cross-examination, Wait expressed frustration.
"Look, you're beating a dead horse," Wait said.
Watch: Racine County man found guilty of election fraud
Wait admitted that in 2022, he went on the My Vote website to request the absentee ballots of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, and Racine Mayor Cory Mason, a Democrat, without their consent.
"I couldn't believe I ordered the ballots and got them," Wait said.
Wait turned in Mason's unopened ballot to law enforcement several days later and never received Vos's ballot.
Joe Bugni, Wait's lawyer, asked his client what he meant when he previously stated he did not want to affect the politicians' rights.
"I didn't want to take away their voting rights, even though I don't like them. You know, I don't think they're good, but I didn't want to steal their vote," Wait said.
Bugni tried to convince the jurors that the trial was not about who committed the act, but why it was done.
"This is the key word for the purpose — for the purpose — the purpose, why did he do it?" Bugni said.
State prosecutors pushed back on Wait's motive for trying to expose his belief that there are flaws in the absentee ballot application process. The state suggested that Wait requested the ballots to get "attention or notoriety" for himself and to create a "spectacle."
Adrienne Blais, a state prosecutor, asked Wait if he emailed the district attorney and the sheriff of Racine County, copied Mason and Vos, and told them he successfully ordered the ballots.
"Correct," Wait said.
Blais then stated that Wait sent the emails because he wanted them to know what he did.
"It's not about me. You know, you, you got your story all, all misinformed. It's not about me. It's about the Republic," Wait said.
The state argued that regardless of Wait's claimed motive or reason, the jury must focus on the law.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you don't get to break the law to show that the law can be broken," Blais said.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
