What to know about Souls to the Polls' call for a federal probe into Wisconsin Republicans

A nonprofit law firm representing Souls to the Polls on Wednesday asked federal officials to investigate Republican campaign operatives for sending text messages urging supporters of then-President Donald Trump to flood the Milwaukee voting rights group with requests to be taken to the polls on Election Day 2020.

The request comes two weeks after the Journal Sentinel reported on the text messages from new GOP executive director Andrew Iverson when he was Wisconsin head of Trump Victory, a joint operation of the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee in 2020.

Iverson sent texts to "wreak havoc" with Souls to the Polls to Carlton Huffman, then Trump Victory's state strategic initiative director, who then instructed another Trump aide to carry out the directive as part of "Operation Rat (Expletive)."

"In this country, the right to vote is sacrosanct," wrote Chris Donohue, staff counsel for Law Forward, a nonprofit law firm representing Souls to the Polls. "If Iverson, Huffman and others followed through with the plans they made, as publicly reported, they may have violated numerous core federal civil rights laws, as well as Wisconsin law."

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

Iverson has said repeatedly that his texts were not meant to be taken seriously.

What exactly is the issue?

At a news conference on Wednesday, Greg Lewis, executive director of Souls to the Polls Wisconsin, suggested that Trump campaign officials may have engaged in voter suppression and racism with their plans to swamp the Black get-out-the-vote organization with calls on Nov. 3, 2020.

Souls to the Polls volunteers offer free rides to the polls on Election Day and during early voting. Lewis said the organization will take people to the polls no matter their partisan affiliation.

"We're asking for an investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice because we need to know if those responsible for this attempt at voter suppression broke any laws," said Lewis, who was joined by nearly two dozen supporters. "Did they violate the Voting Rights Act? Did they violate the Civl Rights Act? We demand and deserve answers."

Why is this issue coming up now?

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

"Can Mario (Herrera, head 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. on Nov. 3, 2020. "'Can't wait to go vote for President Trump!' Wesring (sic) MAGA hat or something."

"I'm excited about this. Wreak havoc," Iverson then told Huffman. "For the afternoon and they'll make it clear they're excited to vote for Trump?"

Huffman then urged Herrera to follow through with the plan, which Huffman said was dubbed "Operation Rat (Expletive)."

"Know some people who wanna (expletive) with the Dems," Huffman wrote Herrera later on Nov. 3, 2020. "Have our people spam their souls to the polls hotline. … Just say they want a ride and be wearing their trump stuff."

Who leaked the text messages?

Huffman said he made the text messages public because he believes people should know that Iverson engaged in dirty tricks aimed at suppressing the Black vote in Milwaukee back in 2020.

In a statement, Iverson has said the text messages were jokes and weren't supposed to be taken seriously. He has not disputed sending the texts.

Iverson said he got into politics to make sure "that every single Wisconsite (sic) that is legally allowed to vote has the opportunity to do so" — not to suppress the vote anywhere.

"In 2020, I jokingly offered a scenario of Trump supporters utilizing a Democrat-aligned GOTV effort to ensure Republicans also made it out to the polls," Iverson said in a statement. "It was a spur of the moment thought and nothing more came of it."

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

Trump ended up losing Wisconsin to Democrat Joe Biden by nearly 21,000 votes in 2020.

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

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

Did the plan to inundate Souls to the Polls with calls actually happen?

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 — is still unknown," Donohue wrote in her letter to Haanstad. "It is crucial that the U.S. Attorney's Office investigate what happened to ensure it does not happen again this year — or ever."

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

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

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about Souls to the Polls' call for investigation into GOP