Latest push to impeach Wisconsin elections chief meets same resistance

There’s once again a call to impeach Wisconsin’s elections administrator, and there’s once again no support for it among top Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly,

Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, said it is time to impeach Meagan Wolfe for how she handled the 2020 election.

“It is the duty of the Legislature to make sure that the laws and rules of the state are followed. If we do not do this job, then our role means nothing and unelected administrators are running our government,” Wichgers said.

Wichgers is among the handful of Republicans who first demanded Wolfe be impeached earlier this year.

That request was held up by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos until November, when he moved the question to a statehouse committee.

He then said there was “nowhere near a consensus” on the idea among other Republican lawmakers.

On Thursday, Vos essentially said the same thing in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"The things that people say were the most egregious examples (in 2020), they've all been dealt with in one way or the other. So, we had 2022: Ron Johnson won, and so did Tony Evers. John Leiber won and so did Josh Kaul. Nobody really complained about 2022, and that's under the newer system," Vos said. "Let's focus on the future and say, we've made progress and maybe there's further to go, as opposed to being obsessed with the past, where it does nobody any good."

Wichgers’ impeachment push focuses on the use of ballot drop boxes in that 2020 election.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in the Teigen case (Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, July 8, 2022) that Wolfe and her staff erred by authorizing a voting method not sanctioned by law. The sanctity of the ballot box deserves the highest protection and Wolfe failed to give that protection by allowing unregulated drop boxes,” he added. “Willfully and shamelessly endangering the integrity of Wisconsin’s elections is criminal. It is the responsibility of the Assembly and Senate together to rein in the WEC Administrator and ensure that Wisconsin elections are safe and secure. A vote on this matter needs to be scheduled at the first opportunity.”

Vos said he’d like to see someone else take over at the Wisconsin Elections Commission, but he wants to see Wolfe leave on her own.

The Election Commission has refused to officially nominate Wolfe for a second term, therefore sparing her from a confirmation vote in the Senate.

She is relying on a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that says state appointees can serve until their replacement has been confirmed.