Judge blocks Republican effort to remove Wisconsin elections chief Meagan Wolfe

MADISON – Republican lawmakers do not have the authority to remove or replace the state's top election official, and the Wisconsin Elections Commission has no duty to do so, a Dane County judge ruled Friday.

Dane County Circuit Judge Ann Peacock ruled that Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe is legally holding over in her position in a decision blocking Republican legislative leaders from taking actions to oust her. The decision follows an October order temporarily blocking them from doing so.

"The Legislature has fanned the hyper-partisan flames by engaging in several high-profile unequivocal official acts to purportedly remove Administrator Wolfe without publicly disclosing for months that their acts were 'symbolic' rather than supported by the law," Peacock wrote. "That lack of transparency and their willingness to attempt actions contrary to the law are precisely the reasons why a permanent injunction is appropriate in this case."

Wolfe oversees a commission that has been under fire for three years because of false claims put forward by former President Donald Trump to convince supporters he actually won an election that he lost and because of policies commissioners approved during the 2020 presidential election to navigate hurdles presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

President Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020 by about 21,000 votes in Wisconsin — a result that has been confirmed by two recounts paid by Trump, state audits, a partisan review, a conservative study and multiple lawsuits.

In September, the state Senate in a party-line vote rejected the appointment of Wolfe. Minutes after the vote, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit asking a judge to block Republican legislative leaders from appointing a new administrator and to declare Wolfe administrator, arguing the Senate did not have the power to oust her. Meanwhile, Wolfe said she would not leave her job until a court told her to do so.

Even though lawmakers voted Wolfe out, she stayed in her job because the vote to fire her wasn't recognized by Wolfe or Democrats as legitimate. That's because the Republican-controlled state Senate forced a vote on Wolfe's future even though the bipartisan elections commission charged with hiring her did not put forward a nomination of Wolfe to consider.

When Wolfe's term expired in June, the six members of the commission agreed Wolfe should stay in her job but failed to find consensus on how to respond to an effort by Senate Republicans to oust her.

Ultimately, the commission did not put forward the four votes required by law to reappoint Wolfe, with Democratic commissioners arguing a recent state Supreme Court ruling that allows such officials to stay in their positions beyond the expiration of their terms protects Wolfe's job.

Senate Republicans decided to move forward anyway. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, 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.

"They could have voted no. They didn’t vote no. That would have been a tie vote. But it was a unanimous vote," LeMahieu said after a floor session during which Republicans voted to move forward with Wolfe's nomination. "3-0 is a two-thirds vote."

But in an Oct. 16 filing, LeMahieu's attorneys claimed the opposite — admitting the commission's 3-0 vote on Wolfe "did not effectuate an appointment," that Wolfe is lawfully in her current position as a holdover, and that "the Senate has no power to act on an appointment where there is no pending appointment."

The legislative leaders also said in that filing that the Legislature's Joint Committee on Legislative Organization has "no power to appoint an interim administrator while Administrator Wolfe is holding over," despite public statements indicating they would pursue that approach.

The GOP leaders asked the court to order the elections commission to appoint an administrator for a four-year term "irrespective of whether a vacancy exists" no later than Nov. 1.

Peacock's ruling found that Wolfe is lawfully holding over in her position, the elections commission did not vote to appoint Wolfe to a new term and has no duty to appoint a replacement, and the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization has no power to appoint a replacement for a lawful holdover. Republican lawmakers are barred from "taking any official action contrary to these declarations," according to the decision, which may be appealed.

In a statement, Wolfe said she is "grateful for the clarity and stability that the court's decision provides for Wisconsin's elections system."

"I hope this will put an end to attempts by some to target nonpartisan election officials and fabricate reasons to disrupt Wisconsin elections," Wolfe said. "The effort to undermine me was especially cruel given that the defendant legislators themselves admitted in court that I remain the lawful administrator. We have important work to do to prepare for the election year ahead and I look forward to returning my full focus to that work now that this unnecessary distraction is behind us."

Spokespeople for Republican legislative leaders did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge blocks Republican effort to remove elections chief Meagan Wolfe