Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial candidate sues state election commission over drop boxes

The Republican frontrunner for governor wants the Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on election drop boxes, voting in nursing homes, and moving polling places before Election Day.

Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol, on the other hand, are promising not to sit down with the state’s special elections investigator.

Former Lt. Gov. (2011-2019) and 2022 gubernatorial contender Rebecca Kleefisch filed a lawsuit on Monday.

She’s asking the court to set rules for ballot dropboxes, which she says are not allowed under state law. She’s also asking the court to “correct” the Wisconsin Elections Commission on other election laws and on the process to change those laws.

“Wisconsinites are sick and tired of unelected bureaucrats intentionally ignoring the law. The lawsuit forces WEC to clean up their act prior to administering the 2022 election,” Kleefisch said in a statement.

The lawsuit specifically asks the court to remind WEC that commissioners must follow the state’s rulemaking process if they intend to change or interpret election laws in the state.

WEC offered guidance last fall that changed how absentee ballots could be collected at dropboxes, as well the now infamous order to keep special voting deputies out of nursing homes and instead have staffers fill out ballots for elderly voters. Kleefisch’s suit also says WEC cannot change, close, or consolidate polling places within 30 days of an election, a practice WEC allowed local election managers to perform last spring.

Kleefisch’s lawsuit comes as lawmakers in Madison have three open investigations into WEC and the 2020 vote.

Meanwhile, Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol on Monday vowed not to cooperate with one of those investigations.

Three state representatives on the Assembly Committee on Elections, Mark Spreitzer, D–Beloit, Lisa Subeck, D–Madison, and Jodi Emerson, D–Eau Claire, on Monday said they will not meet with former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman one-one-one.

“We will not be a part of Mike Gableman’s attempts to hide from public scrutiny. Mike Gableman had a chance to answer questions in public, but he chose not to. We see no reason to meet with him in private,” the three wrote in an open letter.

Spreitzer, Subeck, and Emerson once again said Wisconsin’s Republican Assembly Speaker should shut down the Gableman investigation.

Last week Gableman said he is expanding that investigation to include criminal allegations out of Racine County.