What you should know about Souls to the Polls' call to investigate the GOP

A nonprofit law firm representing Souls to the Polls called on federal officials Wednesday to investigate Republican campaign workers who sent text messages urging supporters of then-President Donald Trump to flood the Milwaukee voting rights group with requests to to take part in the elections on election day 2020.

The request comes two weeks after the Journal Sentinel reported on new GOP CEO Andrew Iverson’s text messages while he was Wisconsin head of Trump Victory, a joint effort by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2020.

Iverson sent text messages to “wreak havoc” with “Souls to the Polls” to Trump Victory State’s then-director of strategic initiatives, Carlton Huffman, who then directed another Trump adviser to carry out the order as part of “Operation Rat ( Expletive)”.

“In this country, the right to vote is sacrosanct,” wrote Chris Donohue, human resources counsel for Law Forward, a nonprofit law firm representing Souls to the Polls. “If Iverson, Huffman and others carried out their plans, as publicly reported, they may have violated numerous fundamental federal civil rights laws as well as Wisconsin law.”

Greg Haanstad, the U.S. attorney in Milwaukee, confirmed Wednesday that he had received the request for a federal investigation. He had no further comment.

Iverson has repeatedly said that his lyrics are not intended to be taken seriously.

What exactly is the problem?

At a press conference on Wednesday, Greg Lewis, executive director of Souls to the Polls Wisconsin, suggested that Trump campaign officials may have committed voter suppression and racism with their plans to flood the Black voter organization with appeals November 3, 2020.

Souls to the Polls volunteers provide free rides to the polls on Election Day and during early voting. Lewis said the organization will bring people to the polls regardless of their party affiliation.

“We are calling for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation because we need to know whether those responsible for this attempt at voter suppression violated any laws,” said Lewis, joined by nearly two dozen supporters. “Did they violate the Voting Rights Act? Did they violate the Civil Rights Act? We demand and deserve answers.”

Why is this problem occurring now?

Last month, the Journal Sentinel reported that Iverson — who was recently named executive director of the state Republican Party — sent two text messages to Huffman about Souls to the Polls on the day of the 2020 presidential election.

“Can Mario (Herrera, director of Hispanic outreach for Trump Victory) help get some Trump supporters to participate in Souls to the Polls?” Iverson told Huffman at 9:45 a.m. November 3, 2020: “‘I can Can’t wait to vote for President Trump!’ Wesring (sic) MAGA hat or something.”

“I’m excited about it. Wreak havoc,” Iverson then told Huffman. “For the afternoon and they’re going to make it clear they’re excited about voting for Trump?”

Huffman then asked Herrera to implement the plan, which Huffman said was dubbed “Operation Rat (Expletive).”

“I know some people who want to talk (expletive) to the Democrats,” Huffman later wrote to Herrera on November 3, 2020. “Let our people spam their souls to the election hotline. …Just say you want a ride and wear your Trump stuff.”

Who leaked the text messages?

Huffman said he released the text messages because he believes people should know that Iverson carried out dirty tricks in 2020 to suppress the black vote in Milwaukee.

In a statement, Iverson said the text messages were jokes and should not be taken seriously. He did not deny sending the text message.

Iverson said he got into politics to ensure “every single Wisconsite (sic) who is legally allowed to vote has the opportunity to do so” — not to suppress the vote anywhere.

“In 2020, I jokingly suggested a scenario in which Trump supporters used a Democratic-aligned GOTV effort to ensure Republicans also participated in the election,” Iverson said in a statement. “It was a spontaneous thought and nothing more came of it.”

Huffman said he never took the lyrics as jokes. He said Iverson was clearly trying to overwhelm and discourage Souls to the Polls, which has close ties to Democrats, by forcing the group to devote valuable resources to responding to Trump supporters.

Trump lost Wisconsin to Democrat Joe Biden by nearly 21,000 votes in 2020.

As of 2020, Huffman has had a turbulent political career. He was expelled from the Republican Party. He is bound by a four-year restraining order for sending a threatening and racist message to a Republican Party official. He was fired from his job at the North Carolina Legislature after his old white supremacist views came to light. He was also accused of sexual violence last year.

In January 2023, Huffman gained national attention when he sued Matt Schlapp, accusing the head of the American Conservative Union of grabbing his genitals as the two men sat alone in a car after a campaign rally in Georgia. The case was settled earlier this year for $480,000.

Has the plan to flood “Souls to the Polls” with views actually come to fruition?

Donohue, the attorney for Souls to the Polls, said that is unclear.

“The extent of Iverson and Huffman’s plans and actions during the 2020 election – and whether anyone else was involved – remains unknown,” Donohue wrote in her letter to Haanstad. “It is critical that the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigate what happened to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again this year – or ever.”

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the state Republican Party suggested that Iverson had done nothing wrong.

“Andrew Iverson has maintained from the beginning that his ‘Wreak Havoc’ comments were a prank idea in response to Souls to Polls, which offered rides to all voters, regardless of their political affiliation,” said Matt Fisher, GOP communications director. “The text messages show that the only person who has expressed a desire to sabotage Souls to the Polls by jamming its phone lines is disgraced white supremacist Carlton Huffman.”

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or [email protected]. Follow him to X @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

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