Republican efforts to remove the state's top elections official were again defeated Friday when a Wisconsin court declared that she is lawfully in office and that the board that chooses her is not need to name a new head.
The nonpartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked in June on re-appointing Meagan Wolfe as election administrator. Three Republican commissioners supported the appointment, while three Democrats abstained to prevent the state Senate from firing her; Republicans could have done so. Four votes are needed for commission action.
Political skeptics have falsely accused Wolfe of plotting to rig the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden and threatened her. Biden defeated Trump by over 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, surviving two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm's examination, and various state and federal challenges.
Wisconsin's more than 1,800 local clerks, who conduct elections, are unstable before of the presidential election because to the WEC leadership dispute. In her Friday judgment, Dane County Circuit Judge Ann Peacock stated that Wolfe is lawfully entitled to her post.
Democrats and the Legislature's nonpartisan counsel objected to Senate Republicans' September decision to remove Wolfe, arguing that the Senate had no jurisdiction to vote since Wolfe was a holdover and had not been reappointed.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed to protest that vote, and Republican legislature leaders shifted direction and claimed their vote to dismiss Wolfe was “symbolic” and had no legal impact. They also requested that the judge direct the elections commission to choose a Senate-approved administrator.
In her Friday order, Peacock ruled Wolfe is lawfully acting as elections commission administrator as a holdover after the panel deadlocked on reappointing her. Peacock decided again that the Senate's vote to remove her had no legal impact and that the commission has no need to pick a new leader while Wolfe remains a holdover.
The judge held that a legislative leadership group cannot designate an interim administrator while Wolfe is serving. Republican legislative leaders were also urged not to oppose her judgment.
I hope this will put an end to attempts by some to target nonpartisan election officials and fabricate reasons to disrupt Wisconsin elections,” Wolfe stated late Friday afternoon. "The effort to undermine me was especially cruel given that the defendant legislators admitted in court that I am the lawful administrator." Kaul said the verdict “is a resounding victory for fair and impartial election administration and the rule of law.”