It remains to be seen if Wisconsin’s elections administrator will appear before a Senate hearing that could decide whether she keeps her job.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday declined to vote on whether Administrator Meagan Wolfe should testify before the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection.
“I have no interest in babysitting who she contacts or who she speaks with, including the legislature or the governor,” Commissioner Ann Jacobs said. “I don’t think we have that authority.”
Wolfe said she asked commissioners for advice on how to approach the senate hearing because she wants to make sure she “is not operating contrary to what the commission wants.”
“I feel like I am being put in an absolutely impossible, untenable spot either way,” Wolf said. “There’s an opinion that the legislature holds, there’s an opinion that some of the commissioners hold, and then there’s another opinion that the other half of the commission holds. So, I don’t know that there’s a great answer here.”
The Senate is reportedly looking to speak to Wolfe ahead of what could be a vote to reject her appointment as Elections Commission administrator.
A number of Republicans, and at least one Democratic senator, want Wolfe replaced because of how she handled the 2020 election. Elections commissioners, however, are deadlocked on officially nominating Wolfe for a second term.
Democratic commissioners are relying on a 2022 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that allows people to continue to serve on boards or commissions in Wisconsin until a replacement is confirmed by the State Senate.
If Wolfe is not officially nominated, the Senate cannot vote on her nomination, and she cannot be voted out.
“Megan is our administrator, she remains our administrator, and she will remain our administrator unless or until this body removes her, she departs the position or, heaven forbid, she passes away,” Jacobs said Wednesday.
Elections Commission Chair Don Mills said he received a call Tuesday that the Senate elections commission plans to call Wolfe to testify. That committee hearing, however, has not yet been scheduled.
