An anti-vaxx Republican official who refused to certify Biden’s election win died after being hospitalized with COVID-19

• A GOP official who opposed coronavirus vaccines died while hospitalized with the virus.
• Hartmann, an official in Wayne County, Michigan, had shared anti-vaccine messages before falling sick.
• He briefly refused to certify Biden’s election win in their county, but then backed down.

A Republican official who opposed coronavirus vaccines, and tried to block certification of President Joe Biden’s election win, died after being hospitalized with COVID-19.

The New York Times reported that William Hartmann’s sister said he had been hospitalized with the disease, writing on Facebook before his death that he was “in ICU with Covid pneumonia and currently on a ventilator.”

Gustavo Portela, a communications director for the Michigan GOP, confirmed Hartmann’s death, The Detroit News reported. He was 63.

Hartmann was a Republican member of the Wayne County, Michigan, Board of Canvassers, which has a role certifying election results.

He and another canvasser in November 2020 refused to certify the results the presidential election results there after Biden won, but later changed their minds and certified them after all.

Hartmann shared anti-vaccination conspiracy theories on social media before his death. In posts seen by Insider, he belittled the virus and shared posts opposing mask mandates, mandatory vaccines, and incentives schemes like vaccine lotteries.

In one he wrote: “If the ouchie is so great, why do they have to offer bribes?”

And he wrote in another: “Dems need mask/vax panic to screw up at least two more elections.”