Despite legal advice from Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and state legislature attorneys, Wisconsin State Senate Republicans caved in to election deniers and voted on Thursday to oust elections administrator Meagan Wolfe:
The state Senate in a party-line vote rejected the appointment of Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe, the nonpartisan leader of the state's elections agency who has become a target of those who harbor intense distrust of election officials amid a baseless campaign by former President Donald Trump to sow doubt in the legitimacy of his 2020 election loss.
The response to this illegal vote was swift and strong.
Governor Tony Evers condemned the move and called on Kaul and the state DOJ to defend Wolfe. In turn, within minutes of the vote, Kaul immediately filed a lawsuit in Dane County Court asking the court to ;prevent the GQP from trying force Wolfe out and appointing a partisan hack into the position. Even Wolfe came out strong and said she wasn't budging unless a court ordered her to:
Minutes after the vote, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court 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.
"During my 12 years as a nonpartisan election official, I've learned when politicians on either side of the aisle are upset with me, it's usually because I will not bend to political pressure," Wolfe told reporters.
"It’s unfortunate that political pressures have forced a group of our lawmakers to embrace unfounded rumors about my leadership, my role on the commission and our system of elections."
To summarize the absurdity of the situation, Wisconsin GQP held an illegal vote to oust the elections administrator for running a clean and secure election in 2020 because of The Big Lie. To further prove how confused they are about the concept of voting, one GQP state senator, Rob Cowles, tried to justify his vote by citing an audit that showed the election was done properly, but that their was some mechanical errors that led to 84 votes being counted twice.
Hello, Earth to Cowles: TFG lost by a helluva lot more than 84 votes.
It should be noted that Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos confirmed that he definitely in the MAGA camp:
When asked whether firing Wolfe would lend credence to Trump's false claims about Wisconsin's 2020 election, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said "I guess I hadn't thought about it from that perspective."
"I think if Meagan Wolfe stays there, it will be even more problematic for people to believe whatever occurs in 2024 is fair," Vos said. "So for the good of the system, I think that we need to say that in any job, there is always more than one qualified person who could do it."
Then again, it could be just Vos using The Big Lie as an excuse to keep whatever power he can to maintain his seat in legislature and as speaker.
BREAKING: The Wisconsin Senate voted along party lines to remove Meagan Wolfe, the state's top nonpartisan election official, from office, drawing applause from 2020 election deniers in the gallery who have pushed for her ouster. pic.twitter.com/D2bLxfYBg6
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) September 14, 2023
