Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe is slamming a resolution five Assembly Republicans are circulating to impeach her.
The resolution comes a week after the state Senate voted along party lines to fire Wolfe and Dem AG Josh Kaul filing a lawsuit arguing the action had no legal effect.
It claims 15 grounds to remove Wolfe, including that she facilitated “illegal absentee voting in long-term care facilities without the presence of Special Voting Deputies.” Wolfe defenders have noted she didn’t authorize the suspension of special voting deputies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission originally voted 6-0 to suspend their use, and then later 5-1 to continue the policy amid the pandemic.
Wolfe said in a statement the allegations in the resolution are false and “every major decision relating to the 2020 presidential election was made by the agency’s six bipartisan Commissioners in public meetings.”
“The claims in this resolution have been thoroughly examined through numerous audits, investigations, and lawsuits, and they have shown that Wisconsin’s elections are run with integrity,” Wolfe said. “It’s irresponsible for this group of politicians to willfully distort the truth when they’ve been provided the facts for years.”
Impeaching Wolfe would require a majority vote in the Assembly, which is controlled 64-50 by Republicans. Removing her from office would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Republicans have a 22-11 majority.
Under the Wisconsin Constitution, impeachment is reserved for corruption, crimes and misdemeanors.
Those circulating the resolution: GOP Reps. Janel Brandtjen, of Menomonee Falls; Scott Allen, of Waukesha; Elijah Behnke, of Octonto; Ty Bodden, of Hilbert; and Chuck Wichgers, of Muskego.
They wrote in the co-sponsorship memo the impeachment resolution was “proposed to save taxpayer funds and reaffirm the legislature’s authority to remove an administrator who has failed to adhere to existing statutes.”
See more on the resolution here.
