Elections chief Meagan Wolfe calls her position 'untenable' in commission's dispute with senators

MADISON – The leader of Wisconsin's elections agency says she has been put in an "untenable" position after Republican lawmakers who control the state Senate indicated they are moving forward with her reappointment, a move that could result in a key battleground state losing its top election official ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Members of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday opted not to give commission administrator Meagan Wolfe direction on whether to appear in a Senate hearing on Wolfe's future with the elections agency.

That's because the commission continues to be split on how to respond to an effort by Senate Republicans to force Wolfe to undergo nomination proceedings despite the lack of a nomination from commissioners.

Wolfe has been under fire by portions of the Republican base since 2020 when former President Donald Trump began a baseless campaign to discredit Wisconsin's system of elections and after commissioners recommended practices to help voters navigate the coronavirus pandemic, some of which have since been deemed illegal by Wisconsin judges.

Democratic election commissioners and Republican lawmakers each deployed unexpected legal maneuvers in June in their fight over Wolfe's future, neither of which are certain to succeed in court, where this saga is all but certain to land.

First, Democratic commissioners abstained from voting on a motion to reappoint Wolfe to her job in an effort to protect her from Republican senators who had signaled they would fire her if the reappointment was forwarded to them. With just three of six commissioners not voting, the motion to reappoint Wolfe failed without a majority.

Democrats argued there was no need for a vote because of a recent state Supreme Court ruling that sided with Frederick Prehn, a former Natural Resources Board chairman who decided to stay in his position nearly two years after his term expired.

The ruling's majority opinion said that the expiration of a term does not create a vacancy, meaning that holdovers in any position appointed by the governor can remain until a confirmation hearing is held by the state Senate. With commissioners failing to forward an appointment to the Senate, Democrats argued, Wolfe could remain in her job indefinitely.

Republican commission chairman Don Millis argued the commission should vote on Wolfe's reappointment because that is how the commission has operated since it was created.

The disagreement resulted in a deadlock in June when Wolfe's term expired, or no action on Wolfe's reappointment.

But a day later, Senate Republicans moved forward anyway. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu contended the 3-0 commission vote that resulted in a failed motion to reappoint Wolfe was actually enough votes to reappoint Wolfe, even though state law says such votes require a majority of commissioners, or four votes.

As a result, all Republican state senators voted to pass a resolution to take up Wolfe's reappointment.

Sen. Dan Knodl, a Republican from Germantown who leads the Senate's elections committee, is planning to hold a hearing at the end of August. Millis scheduled a discussion during Wednesday's commission meeting over whether to authorize Wolfe to testify.

Democratic members of the commission said Wednesday they did not want to micromanage Wolfe's public appearances and Wolfe could decide whether to go on her own. They also said the discussion was legitimizing an illegitimate proceeding.

"Meagan is our administrator. She remains our administrator and she will remain our administrator unless or until this body removes her, she departs the position or heaven forbid she passes away," Democratic commissioner Ann Jacobs said Wednesday. "So, I don't have any interest in indulging the Legislature's circus, which is based on a false reading of the law."

But Millis said "testifying before the committee would be a good opportunity for her to tell the good story about what's going on over here."

"We've already seen what's happened when we didn't approve her nomination with four votes. I think that turned out very badly. And I'm concerned that if we don't authorize − give her permission to do this − it will be it will turn out even worse," Millis said.

Jacobs said she believed the hearing would go badly either way.

"This is not in good faith. These are not people who are going to be talking about the impressive work Meagan does and has done. This is going to be a litany of crazy people who are the ones on Twitter talking about Meagan Wolfe as some sort of actual wolf who violates the law," Jacobs said. "I am not as inclined to believe that this is going to be a positive and helpful thing for the commission."

Meanwhile, Wolfe said she's in a difficult position.

"If I'm being very frank with you all, I feel like I am being put in an absolutely impossible, untenable spot either way," Wolfe said.

"There's an opinion that the Legislature holds. There's an opinion that some of the commissioners hold and then there's another opinion that the other half of the commission holds and so I don't know that there's a great answer here. But knowing that I have the clear backing from the commission is important to me in that I not be operating against your will."

Ultimately, a motion to authorize Wolfe was withdrawn after all commissioners agreed she could testify if she wanted to and no direction was officially given to Wolfe. A spokesman for the commission said Thursday she had not decided yet what to do.

Wolfe became administrator in 2018 and oversees the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which provides guidance to nearly 2,000 clerks in Wisconsin. That guidance is decided by six appointed commissioners, three from each major political party. Her job is to implement their decisions as rules governing how elections are administered.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Meagan Wolfe calls her situation 'untenable' in dispute with Senate