MUSKEGO, WI — A federal judge today refused to block 2025 Wisconsin Act 126, a new law that bans out-of-state residents from helping Wisconsin candidates collect nomination signatures. Pete Karas, the Wisconsin Green Party candidate for Secretary of State, says the ruling hurts everyday candidates — and the voters who deserve more choices on the ballot.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it — this is a bad result,” said Karas. “Not just for me, but for anyone trying to run for office in Wisconsin without a major party behind them.”

Karas is in the middle of collecting between 2,000 and 4,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. He has until June 1. And unlike Republican or Democratic candidates, he doesn’t have county party offices, paid staff, or a built-in volunteer army to fall back on.

“The Green Party in Wisconsin is a grassroots operation. We don’t have the infrastructure the big parties take for granted. So when a law shrinks the pool of people who can help us collect signatures, we feel it in a way that the major parties just don’t.”

Act 126 was signed by Governor Evers in March after being pushed by Republican legislators who were fed up with recall efforts against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. It bars out-of-state residents from circulating nomination papers — with a carve-out, conveniently, for presidential campaigns.

“This law wasn’t written to protect Wisconsin voters. It was written to protect Wisconsin incumbents. There’s a difference.”

What makes the court’s inaction especially frustrating, Karas says, is that this legal battle has already been fought — and Wisconsin lost. The Seventh Circuit ruled in 2000 that candidates have a First Amendment right to use out-of-state circulators. A federal court in Wisconsin applied that ruling three years later to strike down a nearly identical state law.

“The legislature knew all of this when they passed Act 126. They passed it anyway. And now every day it stays on the books is another day candidates like me are working with one hand tied behind our backs.”

It’s not just Greens who are upset. The Libertarian Party of Wisconsin joined the lawsuit challenging Act 126, alongside the conservative Americans for Citizen Voting PAC.

“I don’t agree with either of those groups on many policies. But we all agree that the First Amendment protects your right to have willing supporters help you get on the ballot — regardless of which side of a state line they sleep on. That shouldn’t be a controversial position.”

With the June 1 deadline closing in, Karas is calling on the plaintiffs to take the fight to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals immediately.

“The clock is ticking. After June 1, the damage is done — you can’t un-lose those signatures. If there’s going to be relief, it has to come now.”

ABOUT PETE KARAS: Pete Karas is the 2026 Wisconsin Green Party candidate for Secretary of State, a Muskego resident, former Racine City Alderman, and former small business owner.. His campaign is focused on ballot access reform, ranked-choice voting, and building a real alternative to two-party dominance in Wisconsin