Wisconsin Elections Administrator Meagan Wolfe says Election Day in Wisconsin “went very well and was successfully administered.”
But Wolfe, while speaking to media Wednesday, declined to say whether she will remain in her current role after the election is certified.
“Well-run elections do not happen by accident,” Wolfe said. “They are the result of years of training and preparations by our local election officials. Wisconsinites can be proud of the efforts of their local election officials — who are your friends, your neighbors and your family members.”
The city of Milwaukee took flak Tuesday for failing to properly lock panels on 13 tabulators, leading election officials to recount about 31,000 absentee ballots that had been fed into the machines. The city enlisted 30-40 firefighters, health workers and IT employees to help run the ballots back through the machines.
Wolfe noted the state will have to follow a series of steps to certify the election results, including multiple levels of canvassing.
Once each municipality has certified their election results, they head to the counties for review. Counties must submit the certified results to the Elections Commission by Nov. 19. The commission then reviews and verifies them, and Chair Ann Jacobs will have until Dec. 1 to certify the statewide results.
Wolfe declined to say whether she will seek to continue in her role leading Wisconsin elections, saying: “I haven’t even slept yet.”
“So for me it’s still Election Day, and I’m still completely focused on making sure that yesterday’s election gets verified and certified. That’s where my focus will continue to remain,” Wolfe said. “So I’m completely committed to seeing through this election and making sure that this election is certified.”
Wolfe’s position has become the subject of litigation and discontent among Republicans who fault her for Donald Trump’s 2020 loss in Wisconsin. The state Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Nov. 18 in Wolfe’s lawsuit to block GOP lawmakers from removing her as Wisconsin’s top election official.
A Dane County judge previously found the state Senate’s vote to remove Wolfe had no legal effect, WEC had no duty to appoint a new leader while she was serving, and the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization had no authority to appoint an interim while she was serving.
