(The Center Square) – Republican legislators are circulating a bill that would require the Wisconsin Elections Commission to hear complaints against itself of potential election-related violations.
The bill comes after the U.S. Department of Justice in a June 4 letter reprimanded the elections commission for not having established a hearing process for complaints against the commission, leaving complainants “without any recourse.”
The letter accused the commission of being in violation of the Help America Vote Act and threatened to pull federal funding from the state.
This bill would therefore “remedy WEC violations,” according to bill coauthor Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego.
“This bill serves the public,” Wichgers said in a statement. “It paves a way for people to have complaints heard and to gain assurance that our elections are safe and secure.”
Wichgers said the legislation gives the public, through the commission, a clear process to employ when someone seeks redress in election matters.
Legislative Reference Bureau 3612 would require the commission to hear and resolve HAVA complaints, including those directed at the commission itself.
It would also establish mandatory timelines for hearings (30 days) and decisions (89 days) and ensure transparent, public hearings as well as a publication of complaint outcomes.
Complaint procedures would also have to be “uniform and nondiscriminatory,” as HAVA requires.
Ann Jacobs, a Democrat who chairs the commission, previously pushed back on the Justice Department’s accusation.
Jacobs said it would be a “conflict of interest” for the commission to decide which complaints against itself were legitimate.
“If somebody makes a complaint alleging that the commission has violated HAVA, and demands a hearing under that contention, then you wind up in what would be a very peculiar situation, where WEC sits as the adjudicative body,” Jacobs said in a statement first reported by Wisconsin Public Radio.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court had also previously agreed in a 2022 ruling that “it would be nonsensical to have WEC adjudicate a claim against itself.”
While the bill acknowledges the court’s ruling, if signed into law WEC would be required to create the system to hear complainants regardless.
The bill “fulfills the legislative duty for oversight of election integrity, and responds responsibly and urgently to the federal warning, ensuring Wisconsin remains eligible for federal support in maintaining secure and accessible elections,” Wichgers said.
LRB3612 has been circulated among Wichgers and Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, and is seeking cosponsors until Tuesday.
