Republican mega-donors Dick and Liz Uihlein, who are the third largest donors in this year’s US presidential election, have sought information about who employees at their company Uline will be voting for in Tuesday’s ballot.
A screenshot seen by the Guardian shows how employees at the private Wisconsin paper and office products distributor were asked to take part in what was called an anonymous survey to track who the employees were voting for on 5 November.
Below a picture of a blue donkey and a red elephant, the online survey says: “We’re curious – how does Uline compare to the current national polls?”
While the button employees are meant to click says the survey is anonymous, the webpage also says that employees “may be asked to sign in”. “This is solely to verify you are a Uline employee and to ensure one submission per person. Your name is not tracked, and your answers remain anonymous.”
Public records show that Dick Uihlein has donated almost $80m to the Restoration Pac in the 2024 cycle, which supports Republican nominee Donald Trump and other Republican candidates.
One employee who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution said the request felt like an infringement on their privacy and that people inside the company were angered by it. Another said multiple employees had privately questioned how anonymous the survey really was. There was an assumption that Democrats would not answer the survey truthfully, a source close to Uline told the Guardian.
For Uline workers, there is little doubt about who their bosses want to win in this week’s election.
The billionaire Uihleins are staunchly pro-Trump and anti-abortion and have had significant influence on local and national politics, including changes to state laws that will make it more difficult for states to pass pro-choice legislation or changes to state constitutions in the way of the Dobbs decision that overruled national abortion protections.
The voter survey is particularly significant because Uline’s operations are headquartered in the critical swing state of Wisconsin, which is one of three so-called “blue wall” states that are seen as necessary for Kamala Harris to win the White House. While Joe Biden won Wisconsin in the 2020 race for the White House, Trump took it in 2016, solidifying its status as a swing state.
Asked whether the request for voting information might be seen as intimidating, Liz Uihlein responded in a statement to the Guardian: “This is stupid! The survey was for fun after enduring two years of this presidential election. The results were anonymous and participation was voluntary. This is completely benign.”
Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center, said she did not believe the request was benign.
“Employers should know to be very careful around pressure on employees, about whether they vote and certainly who they vote for,” Lang said.
“Regardless of intentions, this very clearly could create anxiety for many employees,” she said. “Employees rely on employers for their livelihood.”
Federal and some state laws protect employees from voter intimidation and coercion, including by employees. Under federal law, voters who have need help at the voting booth because of a disability may choose a so-called “assisters” under the Voting Rights Act. But those assisters may not be employers or union reps, Lang said.
“I think that is an implicit recognition of how much power employers can have over employees and the undue influence they can wield,” Lang said.
In Wisconsin, it is also criminal to to solicit a person to show how their vote is cast.
A spokesperson declined to answer the Guardian’s question about the results of the survey, which were due by 25 October.
