Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Assembly Bill AR24 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	LRB-5436/1
2	2	CMH:skw
3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIO N 24
5	5	January 26, 2024 - Introduced by Representatives WICHGERS, BODDEN, ALLEN and
6	6	BRANDTJEN. Referred to Committee on Government Accountability and
7	7	Oversight.
8	8	*AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE*
9	9	Relating to: the impeachment of Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin
10	10	Elections Commission.
11	11	Whereas, Meagan Wolfe, in her capacity as the administrator of the Wisconsin
12	12	Elections Commission, unlawfully authorized the use of ballot drop boxes by
13	13	disseminating two memos to Wisconsin's municipal clerks before the spring 2020
14	14	election, asserting that “ballot drop boxes can be used" in Wisconsin elections; and
15	15	Whereas, this practice was subsequently deemed illegal under Wisconsin
16	16	statutes by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, highlighting that Administrator Wolfe's
17	17	advice and encouragement regarding drop boxes were illegal during the period she
18	18	provided them; and
19	19	Whereas, Administrator Wolfe's sole defense is her stated belief that, in the
20	20	absence of express statutory constraints, she has the freedom to formulate and
21	21	implement any election-related process or procedure; this belief underscores a
22	22	fundamental and intolerable misunderstanding in that it demonstrates
23	23	Administrator Wolfe's unfounded belief that she is not only the administrator of
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39	39	LRB-5436/1
40	40	CMH:skw
41	41	Wisconsin's elections laws but that in the absence of express and specific law to the
42	42	contrary, she is free to be the creator of such laws when in fact she exceeds her
43	43	authority when she undertakes to give her personal preferences the force of law; and
44	44	Whereas, Administrator Wolfe's directive to clerks to use ballot drop boxes
45	45	represents an unwarranted assumption of authority to shape Wisconsin elections
46	46	law, contradicting her role as an administrator and posing a potential threat to
47	47	democracy; and
48	48	Whereas, prior to fall 2020, Administrator Wolfe further reiterated her
49	49	unlawful claim of the legality of ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin by coauthoring a
50	50	memo with one of her employees urging clerks to seek “creative solutions" for the use
51	51	of ballot drop boxes; and
52	52	Whereas, Administrator Wolfe's illegal advice led to the widespread use of
53	53	ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin's November 2020 election across 66 of the state's 72
54	54	counties, totaling approximately 570 drop boxes, with an unknown number being
55	55	unsupervised; and
56	56	Whereas, despite repeated assertions by Administrator Wolfe regarding the
57	57	historical use of ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin, her inability to provide evidence
58	58	during legal challenges highlights their irrelevance, as noted by the Wisconsin
59	59	Supreme Court, emphasizing that longstanding noncompliance with the law does
60	60	not legitimize its illegality; and
61	61	Whereas, the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, responsible for
62	62	monitoring state agencies' compliance with the law, reported that Administrator
63	63	Wolfe had exceeded her authority in authorizing the use of ballot drop boxes; and
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89	89	Whereas, the Wisconsin Supreme Court found that Administrator Wolfe had
90	90	“created an entire ballot drop box scheme entirely absent from Wisconsin's election
91	91	code"; now, therefore, be it
92	92	Resolved by the assembly, That due to Administrator Meagan Wolfe's
93	93	repeated unlawful advice to the state's municipal clerks, which constituted
94	94	maladministration in office, she shall be and hereby is impeached; and be it further
95	95	Resolved, That Wisconsinites deserve a chief elections officer committed to
96	96	following and applying the law, eschewing unilateral decision-making that could
97	97	compromise the integrity of the democratic process.
98	98	(END)
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