Meagan Wolfe, the controversial administrator of the controversial Wisconsin Elections Commission, sent out a defiant letter on Wednesday to local elections officials as she looks to save her job.
Wolfe’s current term is set to expire in a couple of weeks, and, as she notes, her future is uncertain.
“Based on recent media reports, you may be wondering about my future at the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) as my term as administrator ends on July 1,” Wolfe wrote. “The truth is that I don’t know for certain at this point, but it’s clear that 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, as she has many times during her stormy tenure, played the victim card, insisting that her leadership has been unfairly attacked by conservative critics. But many of the criticisms are not unfounded.
A Legislative Audit Bureau report last year found myriad examples of the Elections Commission and Wolfe issuing guidance and rules contrary to state law. In some more glaring instances, Wolfe issued broad guidance on ‘curing” or correcting ballot information and on ballot drop boxes that violated election law. She readily opened WEC’s doors to liberal activists and long-time Democratic Party operatives who were embedded in the election offices of Wisconsin’s largest and most Dem-heavy cities — thanks to millions of dollars in grants funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Wolfe would need to be re-appointed by the partisan, six-member Elections Commission, evenly divided between three Democrats and three Republicans. The state Senate would then decide whether to confirm Wolfe to another term or send her packing.
But there’s been some talk about Wolfe staying beyond her current term, even if she is not reappointed.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Chairman Don Millis on Wednesday told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the commission would be derelict in its duties if commissioners did not take a vote on the agency’s administrator. He plans to call for a vote before the end of the month.
Senate sources have said the audit has sealed Wolfe’s confirmation fate. She no longer has the support needed to survive a confirmation vote, after being unanimously endorsed by the upper house in May 2019.
State Senator Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) told The Wisconsin Daily Star last week that he fears the Elections Commission will re-appoint Wolfe.
“There’s so much evidence here on just the distrust,” he said. “We want most people to have confidence that elections are fair. And when you have a large part of the electorate who are like, ‘I just don’t feel right about it, there’s something in my gut that’s wrong with this,’ you would think that the Elections Commission would look at that and say, ‘Hey, regardless of what our professional thoughts are on Meagan Wolfe, people need some confidence and we should choose somebody new.’”
Wolfe said her hope is that the Senate quickly confirms the commission’s selection.
“For the good of the state, Wisconsin elections should be led by a confirmed administrator,” she wrote in her letter to election clerks. “And while I would ultimately support the Commission’s decision to go in the direction of appointing someone new, there is no substitute for my decade-plus of experience in helping run Wisconsin elections at the state level. It is a fact that if I am not selected for this role, Wisconsin would have a less experienced administrator at the helm.”
State Representative Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls), who led the Assembly committee charged with investigating allegations of election integrity violations and irregularities in Wisconsin’s hotly contested 2020 presidential election, said Wolfe needs to be replaced.
“Wolfe has mislead clerks by pretending her guidance was law. She was silent when multiple voting locations were shut down in Milwaukee and Green Bay, yet willing to create unlawful rules on drop boxes before 2020,” Brandtjen said. “She constantly worked against transparency, denying information to our committee. Clerks need to know she could have worked with us to clarify, instead of suing members of the Legislature that were tasked with investigating the ‘false claims.’”
Now the administrator is hoping local election clerks will come to her defense and save her job.
“I don’t expect you to risk your own positions to advocate for me and will never ask you to do that. Too much has been asked of you, and Wisconsin clerks have put themselves on the line over the past few years too often to keep count,” Wolfe wrote. “However, I do hope that in the weeks and months ahead, you can speak truth about Wisconsin elections when opportunities arise in your communities.
“As we navigate the next few weeks, I hope that clerks will advocate for yourselves to the Commissioners and to legislators. I also appreciate your continued efforts to push back against the false claims about Wisconsin elections. Your voice of truth is important—now more than ever.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
