Wisconsin Prosecutors Clear Two Mayors in Election Fraud Probe — But Reveal Gaping Holes in Ballot Security Laws

Two Wisconsin mayors who became flashpoints in the state's ongoing election integrity battles will face no criminal charges, special prosecutors announced Wednesday — but the reasoning behind one decision exposes a dangerous gap in the state's election laws.

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, a Republican running for state attorney general, led a bipartisan review with Democratic Door County DA Joan Korb into separate allegations against Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich and Wausau Mayor Doug Diny. Both prosecutors concluded neither case could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The investigations centered on starkly different alleged violations. Genrich faced scrutiny for authorizing audio recording devices on security cameras in Green Bay City Hall in 2021. Diny made national headlines in September 2024 when he donned a hard hat and personally removed a locked absentee ballot drop box from the steps of Wausau City Hall — having himself photographed in the act.

The Surveillance Question

In Genrich's case, prosecutors determined the Green Bay mayor had acted on advice from the city attorney, which they said "complicated any prosecution." After reviewing extensive video and audio recordings from city hall, investigators found no conversations that appeared to violate privacy expectations in public spaces where employees had been notified about surveillance.

"We do not believe the state could prove a violation beyond a reasonable doubt for Mayor Genrich or any other city employees," the prosecutors wrote to Brown County District Attorney David Lasee.

The Green Bay investigation began in 2023 when West Allis police launched a probe at the request of the Republican-controlled Wisconsin State Senate, which later settled related litigation over the recordings.

The Ballot Box Stunt

Diny's case reveals something more troubling about Wisconsin's election infrastructure: there are essentially no legal protections for ballot drop boxes.

Prosecutors determined they couldn't charge Diny with election fraud or misconduct in public office because the receptacle he removed didn't technically meet the state's legal definition of a ballot drop box. Why? It wasn't bolted to the ground, was sealed shut, and couldn't accept ballots when Diny wheeled it away.

"Had the 'Drop Box' been unlocked with ballots inside when it was removed, the analysis would be different," the prosecutors wrote to Marathon County District Attorney Kyle Mayo.

The Wausau container was designed to accept both ballots and general correspondence to city departments, further muddying potential charges. But the most damning revelation came in the prosecutors' conclusion: "There is no protections for ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin law."

Diny's stunt came just one month after the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a near-total ban on drop boxes that had been imposed by the court's former conservative majority. The reversal allowed municipalities to use the receptacles again for the 2024 presidential election — but apparently without any statutory safeguards against local officials simply removing them.

Politics and Timing

Toney's handling of the announcement carried its own political overtones. He waited until after Tuesday's local elections "to avoid any possible influence on local races in Brown County and Marathon County" — a decision that itself became a political statement.

The Republican prosecutor, who praised the 2022 drop box ban but says he now votes using drop boxes himself, took aim at partisan expectations in his statement.

"There are some that wanted charges issued based on politics and others that did not want charges issued based on politics," Toney said. "However, the facts are the facts and the law is the law. No matter how badly someone may wish for a result, our duty is to follow the facts and the law, not politics or emotions. Partisan politics has no place in the justice system, and we will not engage in lawfare."

The investigation into Diny had been taken over in October 2024 by the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation, led by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul — Toney's opponent in the upcoming attorney general race.

What Happens Next

The bipartisan prosecutor team recommended municipalities using ballot drop boxes follow best practices set by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. More significantly, they called on the governor and legislature to "work together for uniformity across Wisconsin and to add protections for 'ballot drop boxes.'"

That recommendation amounts to an admission: A local official in Wisconsin can currently remove a ballot drop box without facing criminal consequences, as long as it's locked and empty at the time. In a state that has become ground zero for election denialism and voting access battles, that's not a loophole — it's an invitation for chaos.

The question now is whether Wisconsin lawmakers will close that gap before the next election cycle, or whether ballot drop boxes will remain vulnerable to political theater and worse.