GOP Votes to Oust Wisconsin’s Top Election Official Over 2020 Conspiracies

The Republican-controlled Senate in swing state Wisconsin voted Thursday 22-11 to oust the state’s top nonpartisan election official, throwing the implementation of the 2024 race into chaos and setting up a protracted legal battle just as election season roars into full swing. Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe had become the target of various far-right conspiracies, and even some death threats, over her role in the state’s 2020 election—concerns Republicans echoed during the lead-up to Thursday’s vote. Democrats, meanwhile, have called the action illegitimate and have engaged in a number of legislative wrangling tactics to keep Wolfe in her position while the court battle over the issue plays out. Almost immediately following Thursday’s session, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wolfe arguing that the vote holds “no legal effect.”