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"The Commission must have the ability to intervene..."
The lawyer for Wisconsin’s election managers says it is “absurd” to think they cannot tell local election clerks how to fix their problems.
Wisconsin Elections Commission attorney Angela O’Brien Sharpe rejected the argument from Madison's city attorney that the Elections Commission lacks the power to require specific changes from a local election clerk.
“The Commission is obviously not in the business of micromanaging the administration of elections by 1,850 municipal clerks,” Sharpe wrote in a memo for the Elections Commission. “But when an incident occurs that is as serious as what happened in the City of Madison, the Commission must have the ability to intervene and take specific steps to correct unlawful actions and improper exercise of discretion.”
Madison Attorney Michael Haas argued in a letter last week that the Elections Commission can act to correct a mistake, but cannot order any clerk to do more than what is required in state law.
Haas is upset with the Elections Commission’s orders that Madison explain who and how the city will make sure to count all of its absentee ballots going forward.
Those orders came after the Elections Commission completed an investigation into Madison’s uncounted absentee ballots from last fall. That investigation found that former Madison Clerk Marybeth Witzel-Behl likely broke the law, though commissioners voted not to ask for charges.
The memo and response from Sharpe is part of the nearly 300 pages of preparation materials for Friday’s Election Commission meeting.
Commissioners are set to vote enforcing its orders for Madison at that meeting.
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