Will GOP Dump State Elections Leader?

Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Elections Commission

This week, the chairman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) will schedule a meeting and call for a motion to appoint the next administrator of elections, since Meagan Wolfe’s term as administrator ends July 1.

“I think we have to have a vote,” said WEC Chair Don Millis, an appointee of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. Although Millis wouldn’t say how he will vote, he added, “I think Meagan has done a good job.”

When the six WEC members vote, one of two things will happen. Most likely, Wolfe will be reappointed. If she is, it will then be up to the Republican-controlled State Senate to confirm her, refuse to confirm her – which would fire her – or take no action, which would let her continue in the job she has held since 2018.

The Senate confirmed Wolfe’s four-year appointment in 2019 – before the firestorm of controversies triggered by backers of then-President Donald Trump, who made unproven claims of fraud in national and Wisconsin elections won by President Joe Biden. Trump backers tried to submit a false slate of Electoral College names from Wisconsin in a failed attempt to re-elect Trump.

If WEC fails to reappoint Wolfe, she most likely would resign after that “no confidence” vote. Her resignation could trigger a third, scary scenario with the next election for President only 16 months away.

When Republican legislators and then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker replaced the Government Accountability Board (GAB), which was made up of retired judges, with the WEC, they added this provision: If there is a vacancy in the administrator’s job for 45 days, a Republican-controlled legislative committee can appoint an administrator. That appointment process cuts out Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who names cabinet secretaries and senior department heads. Republicans who disbanded the GAB created the three-Democrats, three-Republicans WEC.

It’s important to note what specific requirements that law set for who can serve as elections administrator. He or she cannot have held “partisan state or local office,” cannot have been a lobbyist and may not “have made a contribution to a candidate for a partisan state or local office” in the previous 12 months.

If Republican legislators pick the next elections administrator, he or she will have no working relationship with both the WEC staff and the 1,922 local and county clerks who actually oversee polling places and poll workers. And, any new administrator would most likely take the job only about a year before the next presidential vote.

Translation: Republicans would politically “own” any mistakes made by their handpicked administrator and any decisions he or she makes that are perceived as favoring Republicans.

With the political divide – and lack of trust in democratic institutions – in Wisconsin and the nation, naming an elections administrator one year away from a presidential election could be a big risk for Republicans. “It’s their mess, their problem,” one veteran official noted.

So, instead of firing Wolfe by quickly refusing to confirm her, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu could bluntly tell his fellow Republicans: Look, if we object to Wolfe’s conduct, we can always return to the Capitol and force her out.

Don’t be surprised at that brutal political calculus. It’s how Wisconsin’s Capitol now works.

For her part, Wolfe opted to not publicly plead for her job with WEC members or respond to those Republican legislators who have called for her to resign.. Instead, Wolfe defended herself in an emotional letter to clerks she and WEC staffers have worked with for years.

“Enough legislators have fallen prey to false information about my work and the work of this agency that my role here is at risk,” Wolfe said, adding that she only implements decisions made by the WEC. “The 2024 presidential election is now less than a year and a half away, and much less so if you include preparations for the [April] Primary,” she noted. “It is critical that Wisconsin have a state chief election official who has the support of the clerks, Commission, Legislature, and public ahead of a series of elections that will no doubt receive more attention and scrutiny.”

In a potential goodbye, Wolfe thanked county and municipal clerks: “I have every confidence that no matter the challenges before us, you will continue to deliver fair and accurate elections to each of your communities. Wisconsin is lucky to have you.”

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com