Wisconsin Judge Protects Top Election Official’s Job from State Republicans

Andy Manis

A Wisconsin judge ruled the state’s top election official is lawfully serving her post after Republicans attempted to remove her in protracted retribution for the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of elections in Wisconsin since 2019 (after serving in an interim capacity since March 2018), has been the subject of Republican ire and right wing conspiracy theories since Joe Biden won the state’s electoral votes in 2020. 

Biden defeated the incumbent Donald Trump, who’d previously won Wisconsin in 2016, by 21,000 votes—a predictably thin margin for a battleground state. 

Despite Trump’s baseless lies about widespread election fraud and persistent attempts by Wisconsin Republicans to undermine the credibility of his defeat, the outcome was upheld by multiple state and federal lawsuits, partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, and even the review of a conservative law firm.

Nevertheless, the Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin state assembly, Robin Vos, demanded Wolfe’s resignation in 2021—two years before the end of her term—because of unproven allegations about the election’s integrity.

When Wolfe refused to resign, Republicans tried a different tactic. 

For Wolfe to be reappointed for a second term, she must secure a majority of the 6-person bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission—which then requires approval from the state Senate. The commission’s three Republicans voted in favor so that her renomination could be shot down by the Republican Senate. 

The move was blocked by the commission’s Democrats, allowing Wolfe to serve in her post past the end of its term. 

Though Senate Republicans voted to fire her anyway, Dane County Circuit Judge Ann Peacock ruled that their vote had no legal effect since the commission is deadlocked.

Peacock further added that the commission is under no obligation to nominate someone else since Wolfe is a lawful holdover.