Engelbrecht has also said the group is looking to roll out dropbox monitoring in multiple states, and mentioned Michigan as a possible location, though most of her focus appears to be on Wisconsin.

In her interview with Wallnau, Engelbrecht added that she was working with “three influential sheriffs” in Wisconsin, though didn’t name them.

WIRED contacted two dozen sheriffs from Wisconsin’s largest counties, but did not find a single one who was going to be part of the monitoring effort. Engelbrecht and Truth the Vote did not respond to multiple requests for comment from WIRED to name the sheriffs who have agreed to be part of the program.

“True the Vote has reached out to the Sheriff’s Office regarding ideas as they relate to election integrity and possible law violations,” Deputy Inspector Patrick R. Esser, from the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, tells WIRED. “True the Vote proposed the idea of donating cameras to the sheriff’s office to monitor election sites, however, the obstacles associated with that idea made it impractical.”

While most sheriff offices WIRED contacted did not respond to requests for comment, a number, including offices in Buffalo County and Polk County, said they had not even heard about the dropbox initiative. “I was unaware of the plan and will not be participating,” Sheriff Mike Osmond from Buffalo County tells WIRED. “I am not sure if they are legal or not but do not have interest in implementing such a program.”

In her newsletter this week, Engelbrecht signaled that the group may have been unsuccessful in recruiting enough sheriffs, writing that they would provide cameras to “sheriffs where possible, other individuals where necessary.”

It’s also not clear that sheriffs would even have jurisdiction over the dropboxes because they are county officials and elections are not run by county officials in Wisconsin.

“We’re a little different than some states,” says Ann Jacobs, chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is responsible for administering elections in the state. “In Wisconsin our elections are actually run at the municipal level. So we have 1,850, approximately, municipal clerks who run municipal elections.”

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision in July, the Wisconsin Electoral Commission put in place guidance for clerks on how to implement dropboxes. “The guidance does not prohibit live streaming of ballot drop boxes, and there is no such prohibition in Wisconsin law,” Riley Vetterkind, the public information officer for the Wisconsin Electoral Commission tells WIRED.

However, if such monitoring interferes with voting, then that could result in criminal charges that carry penalties of up to six months in prison.

“It really depends on what they do with the information that they glean, and my hope is that they’re not going to go out and attack voters, although I suspect that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” says Jacobs.

The claims made in the 2000 Mules conspiracy film centered on voters who placed more than one ballot in dropboxes. However, Jacobs points out that voters in Wisconsin are permitted to place more than one ballot in a dropbox if they are doing so for a disabled or infirmed family member, which could lead to tensions with dropbox monitors should confusion about that allowance occur.

It is also unclear where these cameras would be located, given that they would need to be in situ permanently to provide 24-hour coverage. “What they can’t do is go and just attach a camera to, you know, a city of Milwaukee library and focus it on a dropbox,” says Jacobs. “I suppose in some places, maybe they could figure it out, but I don’t think there’s many places that I can think of where that would actually work.”

It is almost that time again. Yes, it’s almost Halloween, but more importantly for many U.S. citizens 18 and older, it’s almost election or voting season. KPRC 2 News consumers are asking us important questions about voting in the upcoming election on November 5, 2024. We will start with answering the usual suspects, and then we will provide you with important links for the state and for counties near Houston.

Here are the answers to some of the most common questions during election or voting season:

Q: When is the last day to register to vote?

A: The last day to register to vote in all Texas counties is Monday, October 7, 2024.

Q: When is the first and the last day of in-person early voting?

A: The first day of in-person early voting is Monday, October 21, 2024, and the last day is Friday, November 1, 2024.

Q: When is the last day to apply for a mail-in ballot?

A: The last day to apply for a mail-in ballot is Friday, October 25, 2024. An important note about this date is that it must be received by Friday, October 25, 2024. The postmark date does not matter when it comes to the application date.

Q: When is the last day to receive a mail-in ballot?

A: The last day to receive a mail-in ballot is Tuesday, November 5, 2024 (Election Day) at 7:00 p.m. if carrier envelope is not postmarked, or Wednesday, November 6, 2024 (next business day after Election Day) at 5:00 p.m. if carrier envelope is postmarked by 7:00 p.m. at the location of the election on Election Day (unless overseas or military voter deadlines apply). Different deadlines apply to the last day to receive ballots sent by the following: 1) non-military and military voters who mailed ballots from overseas and submitted a regular state Application for Ballot by Mail (“ABBM”), 2) non-military voters who mailed ballots from overseas and who submitted a Federal Postcard Application (“FPCA”), and (3) military voters and members of the Texas National Guard, who mailed ballots domestically or from overseas and who submitted an FPCA. An important link for mail-in ballots is https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/BallotTrackerApp/#/login. This link will track your mail-in ballot once you have mailed it back so you can rest assured that it is counted.

*Mail-in ballots are sent out 30 to 45 days before an election or seven days after the county election office receives your application.

Q: When is Election Day?

A: In case you missed it above, Election Day is Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

Now you have the answers to the most common voting questions during election seasons, below are links to the Texas Secretary of State election and voting website along with local county websites. The county websites will provide in-person early voting or Election Day voting locations along with answers to nearly all the questions you might have in the county you live in. If you a question that you can’t find the answer to, please reach out to us on our Help Desk at https://help.click2houston.com/.

· Texas Secretary of State – https://www.sos.state.tx.us/index.shtml

· Harris County – https://www.harrisvotes.com/

· Fort Bend County – https://www.fortbendcountytx.gov/government/departments/elections-voter-registration

· Montgomery County – https://elections.mctx.org/

· Brazoria County – https://www.brazoriacountyclerktx.gov/departments/elections

· Galveston County – https://www.galvestonvotes.org/home-votes

· Waller County – https://www.co.waller.tx.us/page/Elections.current

· Chambers County – https://www.chamberscountytx.gov/169/Elections

· Liberty County – https://www.co.liberty.tx.us/page/liberty.elections

Leah Feiger: Right. Obviously, the one that I think at least caught our attention the most in the WIRED politics Slack room as we were watching in disbelief was the conspiracy and lie that Haitian immigrants were illegally crossing the border into the United States and camping out and stealing and eating people’s dogs, cats, and pets.

Donald Trump [Archival audio]: They’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.

Leah Feiger: This is not happening. This is in no way happening, but this was a talking point that has been bubbling up for the last 36 hours. JD Vance has been adding fuel to the fire. He has been tweeting about it. Congress. This has been all over. Trump got into it in the debate. That was wild, you guys. That was so wild. It felt like a fever dream.

Makena Kelly: The difference between how it played out online ahead of the debate and how it was received when Trump actually said it, was wild. Because when you look at online, when people were discussing all this conspiracy about the cats and eating them and et cetera, all that, for the most part, it was just like a joke. It seemed like it was mostly silly amongst a lot of these creators that were posting about it. Then just to see it taken so seriously and literally on the debate stage with Trump, I think was the change of perspective that made everything like, what the heck is he doing?

Tim Marchman: Yeah, I have a conspiracy theory about this, which is that Trump was briefed to allude to it, but stay away from it. Because very early in his first statement, he mentioned Springfield, Ohio, very pointedly where the conspiracy theory says this is happening. He looked very smug and self-satisfied as he said that. My base, the people who are on truth social—

Leah Feiger: They’ll know.

Tim Marchman: … they know what’s going on in Springfield. But he didn’t say anything. Then he actually started talking about it after Harris had baited him by mentioning the people left his rallies early, that they were interminable and boring and repetitive. He started visibly getting pretty angry and he just blurts out, he’s talking about how horrible the economy is and how terrible post-apocalyptic America is, and he says, “In Springfield,” he can’t bring himself to say it. He says in Springfield, and then he just says, “They’re eating cats. They’re eating dogs.” It’s so lurid and ridiculous. Then the thing he does after that is, he almost meekly says, “The people on the television said their dog was taken for food.” Just the almost childlike tone of it. It was really this incredible moment. I really got the impression that he knew he wasn’t supposed to be talking about this, I guess.

Leah Feiger: I think you’re right. To me, it didn’t actually come off as childish though. It came off as the grandparent or elderly relative that you’re like, Grandma turn off Fox News. That’s not true. That’s not correct. He felt very old in that moment. He was rambling, he was uncertain. I guess my question here though is, with all these conspiracies he brought up again, like he did in the June debate with Biden, that the Democrats support abortion after nine months, which is unequivocally not true. There were just honestly so many to even get into and list. My question is, does it matter? The internet was taking a lap, the liberal internet was thrilled. Pundits on CNN and MSNBC were like, “This was wild. Harris trounced him, et cetera, et cetera.” I don’t know. This race is not actually about who is more eloquent or who can tell the truth better or more, and that feels a little bit naive at this point. It’s actually about who can mobilize their base. The question is going to be if Trump successfully mobilized his base with his litany of conspiracies tonight. Was he convincing?