Wayne County GOP canvasser William Hartmann dies following battle with COVID-19

Wayne County GOP canvasser William Hartmann dies following battle with COVID-19

William Hartmann, the Republican member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who made national headlines for initially refusing to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, died Tuesday following a battle with COVID-19.

Douglas Reimel, Hartmann’s friend, shared the news on Facebook, and others who knew Hartmann offered their condolences online. Hartmann was 63.

Hartmann's fight with COVID-19 landed him in the ICU, where he was on a ventilator, according to a Facebook post from Elizabeth Hartmann, his sister. He was hospitalized at Wyandotte Hospital, according to Reimel. A spokesperson for the hospital did not immediately respond to a request for details.

Hartmann's death comes amid the latest surge in COVID-19 in Michigan that has filled hospital beds across the state. Michigan remains the nation's worst COVID-19 hot spot, leading the country in cases in recent weeks, according to the CDC.

His Facebook page includes posts and memes downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, comparing vaccine passports to Nazi Germany and blasting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus.

In one Facebook post, Hartmann appeared to question the efficacy of the vaccine. "If the ouchie is so great, why do they have to offer bribes?" he wrote. In others, he referred to COVID-19 as the "wuflu" and suggested that Democrats were using the pandemic "to scare the public."

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2021/12/01/william-hartmann-obituary-covid-19-wayne-county-gop-canvasser/8814707002/