A Michigan Republican official who opposed coronavirus vaccines and tried to block certification of Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump died from COVID-19 after he was hospitalized with the virus, the New York Times reports.
William Hartmann, 63, who spread lies and conspiracy theories about the election via his Facebook page, was one of two Republican election officials from Michigan who initially refused to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election in Wayne County, where Biden had trounced Trump.
Hartmann’s refusal to accept Biden’s win threw the election in the swing state briefly into chaos. The board later did certify the vote counts, then tried to rescind their certifications, though it was too late. Hartmann, who said on Facebook that vaccine passports resembled Nazi Germany’s draconian laws, is the latest in a long line of vocal vaccine opponents, often outspoken Republicans, to die of the respiratory illness.
Hartmann succumbed to the virus on Nov. 30 at a hospital in Wyandotte, Michigan, near Detroit, according to The Times.
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About two weeks before his death, which was confirmed by the Michigan Republican Party, his sister, Elizabeth Hartmann, wrote on Facebook that Mr. Hartmann was “in ICU with Covid pneumonia and currently on a ventilator.” He had been outspoken in his opposition to Covid vaccines.
