Move was illegal

Wisconsin GOP votes to remove state’s elections chief

Democrats say the move was illegal, and litigation is underway.

By MADISON FERNANDEZ

Wisconsin Republicans voted Thursday to fire the state’s elections chief just months before the battleground state’s presidential primary.

State senators voted 22-11 along party lines to fire Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, a bipartisan board that oversees election administration in the state. Wolfe’s position is a nonpartisan, non-voting one tasked with implementing the decisions made by the three Democratic and three Republican commissioners.

As the head of the commission, Wolfe has been the target of GOP attacks following the 2020 presidential election, when President Joe Biden narrowly beat former President Donald Trump in the state. Wolfe has garnered vitriol from Republicans who amplified Trump’s false claims about widespread fraud in the election. Wisconsin Republicans also took issue with how the commission handled voting during the Covid-19 pandemic, including how absentee ballots were sent to nursing homes.

“The vote today represents a lack of faith the people of Wisconsin have in Meagan Wolfe to serve as administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission,” said Republican state Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, adding that the commission should appoint an interim administrator to “rebuild the faith in Wisconsin’s elections.”

Thursday’s vote was the latest development in a monthslong partisan battle over Wolfe’s tenure, one that election officials are concerned will cause more distrust in the elections process ahead of next year’s presidential election.

It will almost certainly not be the end of the matter. Democrats say the vote to remove Wolfe was illegal because the commission had not officially sent her nomination to the legislature. Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit immediately after the vote, asking a state court to declare Thursday’s vote invalid and keep Wolfe in her position. Kaul said in a press conference that he thinks the issue will be resolved before the next election.

Wolfe said she will continue to serve as administrator unless the commission votes to remove her or the court upholds the legislature’s vote.

“The Senate’s vote today to remove me is not a referendum on the job I do but rather a reaction to not achieving the political outcome they desire,” Wolfe said on Thursday. “The 2024 election cycle begins in less than three months. There is such important work ahead, and my hope is that we will quickly get the clarity that we need from the courts.”

Two people in the State Senate gallery listen to debate at the Capitol in Madison, Wis. 

People in the State Senate gallery listen to debate about taking a step toward firing Wolfe on Thursday at the Capitol in Madison, Wis. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP

The fight is throwing the major swing state into uncertainty ahead of its April 2 presidential primary. Wisconsin was one of the many states Trump, now the frontrunner of the 2024 GOP presidential primary field, sued following his 2020 loss, pointing to unfounded claims of election fraud.

Typically, at the end of the WEC administrator’s term, a majority of the bipartisan board must either nominate the administrator for another term or nominate a replacement. The state Senate then votes on that nomination.

But Wolfe’s renomination process hasn’t been that simple.

Earlier this year, the three Democratic commissioners on the Wisconsin Elections Commission abstained from voting to renominate her to a second term out of fear that the Republican-controlled legislature would reject it. Democrats argued that without the four required votes to send the reappointment to the Senate, Wolfe can stay in the position as a “holdover appointee.” Her term expired July 1.

Kaul and the legislature’s own lawyers have said the state Senate didn’t have the authority to hold the vote. But the senators went forward with it anyway.

Earlier this year, Wolfe said that it is “deeply disappointing that a small minority of lawmakers continue to misrepresent my work, the work of the agency, and that of our local election officials, especially since we have spent the last few years thoughtfully providing facts to debunk inaccurate rumors.”

The GOP-initiated battle over Wolfe is not the only one happening in the Badger State. Republican Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is threatening to impeach newly elected liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz.

Wisconsin Republicans have demanded Protasiewicz recuse herself from redistricting cases that come before the court, arguing that she prejudged the cases by calling the maps “rigged” during her campaign earlier this year. They have threatened to impeach Protasiewicz if she doesn’t recuse herself, but it’s not clear they have the grounds to do that.

Earlier this week, Vos introduced a proposal to have nonpartisan statehouse staff draw the legislative lines — although the GOP ultimately would still have some control — in an attempt to short-circuit a court case that targets the GOP-drawn map currently in use. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers indicated on Tuesday that he would not approve such a plan, calling it “bogus,” which has renewed the GOP’s Protasiewicz impeachment calls.