GOP bill would make it easier to appeal complaints rejected by Wisconsin Elections Commission

Months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a complaint about a Racine mobile-voting van, Republican lawmakers are pushing to make it easier to bring future complaints to court if they’re dismissed by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

When the Supreme Court’s liberal majority threw out a lawsuit in February challenging a mobile-voting van used by Racine in 2022, it said former Racine County Republican Party Chair Kenneth Brown’s complaint shouldn’t have even been heard by circuit court in the first place.

Writing for the majority, liberal Justice Jill Karofsky said Brown didn’t prove the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s decision to dismiss his complaint three years earlier “personally affected him.” In short, they said Brown didn’t suffer an injury and, therefore, didn’t have legal standing.

But now, a Republican bill would make it possible for anyone to appeal decisions rejecting an election complaint. To do that, the legislation would tweak state law by specifying that people who appeal WEC decisions in court will be considered to have standing, “regardless of whether the complainant has suffered an injury to a legally recognized interest.”




https://www.wpr.org/news/gop-bill-would-make-it-easier-to-challenge-wisconsin-elections-commission-decisions