The fight over Meagan Wolfe’s status as Wisconsin’s top elections official moved to the courts as Dem AG Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit seeking a declaration that Senate Republicans’ move to fire her has no legal effect.
Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said on the Senate floor Thursday that Republicans were moving to restore voters’ faith in state elections by removing Wolfe as Elections Commission administrator.
But Kaul accused Republicans of causing chaos despite what he argued is settled law.
“They have acted outside the scope of the law and are causing uncertainty that is totally unwarranted,” Kaul said.
Thursday’s vote to remove Wolfe fell along party lines as all 22 Republicans voted to fire her. Along with a ruling that vote was meaningless, the suit requests a declaration that the Elections Commission has no duty to appoint a new administrator while Wolfe remains in the job and the Legislature has no power to appoint a replacement.
Under state law, the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization can appoint an interim administrator if the position has been vacant for 45 days. But Kaul’s suit argues there is no vacancy.
“The Legislature can continue engaging in lawless action, but they don’t have any effect,” Kaul said of a possible move by JCLO to appoint an interim.
Kaul filed the suit after Dem Gov. Tony Evers asked the Department of Justice to represent Wolfe and file a suit seeking to ensure she can remain in the role.
In response to the suit, LeMahieu issued a statement insisting the commission has the statutory authority to appoint an interim, and if it “chooses to not follow the law, the Senate will explore all available options to restore Wisconsinites’ faith in elections.”
He didn’t include specifics in the statement.
Wolfe told reporters after the vote Senate Republicans sought to remove her because she “will not bend to political pressure.”
Wolfe said she will continue serving as the agency administrator until a court determines otherwise. She also said she has received assurances from Evers’ Department of Administration that it will continue to view her as the state’s top elections official for the foreseeable future.
“I think the political outcome they desire is to have someone in this position of their choosing that would indeed bend to those political pressures,” Wolfe said.
The heart of the dispute remains whether the Elections Commission properly renominated Wolfe to the post.
The commission voted 3-0 in June to give Wolfe another four years in the job, with all three Dem members abstaining. They argued that left the commission short of the four votes needed for a nomination, and Wolfe can remain in the job indefinitely. To back up the latter assertion, they pointed to a 2022 state Supreme Court ruling that found a member of the Natural Resources Board could continue serving in the post until the Senate confirmed a replacement. That ruling also helped define when there’s a vacancy in an appointed position, and Dems have argued it backs their contention that Wolfe remains the administrator.
LeMahieu told reporters in June he received legal advice that it only takes a majority of commissioners voting, not of the entire body, to advance a nomination.
Kaul and the nonpartisan Leg Council have opined it requires four votes.
Wolfe said she welcomed Kaul’s lawsuit to clarify her position and stressed she serves at the pleasure of the evenly split commission, which could remove her with four votes at any time.
“I certainly have no intent to remain in this position forever,” Wolfe said. “My focus is on this next election cycle.”
Read more on the Senate debate here.
