Wisconsin election denier joins DOJ’s case seeking state’s voter rolls

A former Trump campaign lawyer who sought to throw out thousands of Wisconsin ballots in 2020 joined the Justice Department’s lawsuit demanding the state’s full, unredacted voter rolls Tuesday.

This places one of the state’s most active election challengers inside a federal case targeting voters’ sensitive data.

Joseph W. Voiland, a former Ozaukee County judge and a central figure in Donald Trump’s failed effort to overturn Wisconsin’s 2020 results, is now counsel in the DOJ’s lawsuit seeking access to the state’s complete voter registration list, according to a court filing.

Voiland has not appeared in any other DOJ voting cases previously, suggesting he was newly hired into the department’s voting section.

Voiland served as lead counsel for the Trump campaign during the Milwaukee County recount in November 2020. During the recount, Voiland submitted sworn affidavits objecting to entire categories of absentee ballot envelopes — including thousands that election officials had corrected for minor clerical issues.

Those objections targeted routine ballot curing — when clerks correct missing information on absentee envelope certificates. The Trump campaign’s position was that ballots corrected by officials should not count.

The recount did not change the outcome of the 2020 election. In fact, the process confirmed Joe Biden’s victory and increased his margin by 87 votes. 

Voiland repeatedly wrote Milwaukee election officials demanding that affidavits and exhibits favorable to the Trump campaign be formally entered into the recount record. In a follow-up filing, he accused the commission of omitting materials and failing to complete tallies tied to the 2,193 ballot objections.

Voiland was also included in privileged email communications among Trump-aligned attorneys — including James Troupis and Kenneth Chesebro — during December 2020, when lawyers were discussing the “safe harbor” deadline and the plan for alternate electors to meet.

Chesebro later became known as one of the architects of the ‘fake elector’ scheme nationally. 

Emails show Voiland was copied on multiple communications discussing Supreme Court filings and the logistics of the alternate elector meeting in Wisconsin.

The fake electors ultimately signed documents purporting to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Trump despite Joe Biden’s certified victory. The effort later became the subject of criminal investigations and prosecutions in Wisconsin.

After 2020, Voiland served as counsel on an amicus brief for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in a case where the Wisconsin Supreme Court invalidated the use of ballot drop boxes.

“It is indisputable that voting outside the polling place on election day is less secure and less trustworthy than election day voting,” the brief Voiland was counseling read. “The failure of the Courts and Congress to address the shortcomings of the 2020 election has undermined the public confidence in our elections and, in the process, has caused an alarming erosion of faith in our most treasured institutions.”

The state Supreme Court initially ruled that ballot drop boxes were not allowed under Wisconsin law, but later overturned its decision, permitting the use of drop boxes beginning in 2024.

Now, Voiland has entered a DOJ lawsuit seeking to compel Wisconsin to turn over its complete voter registration list — a move that voting rights advocates and several courts have warned could jeopardize voter privacy and participation.

In recent months, the DOJ’s voting section has been fundamentally reshaped by a series of hires with documented ties to post-2020 election denial and anti-voting networks. These attorneys are now part of the aggressive push by the civil rights division — led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon — to obtain unredacted voter registration records from states nationwide.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.