Trump administration accuses Wisconsin of violating federal election law

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Trump administration has accused the Wisconsin Elections Commission of failing to provide a state-based complaint process for voters bringing allegations against the commission itself, calling that a violation of federal law and threatening to withhold all federal funding.

But the commission’s Democratic chairwoman said Thursday there is no federal funding to cut and she disputed accusations raised in a Department of Justice letter a day earlier, saying it would be nonsensical for the commission to determine whether complaints against it were valid.

“What they’re asking is, if someone files a complaint against us, we’re supposed to hold a hearing to determine if we messed up,” Ann Jacobs said. “That is not functional.”

It marks the second time in a week that the Trump administration has targeted election leaders in battleground states.

Last week, the Justice Department accused North Carolina’s election board of violating federal law by failing to ensure voter registration records of some applicants contained identifying numbers.

The latest letter from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division accused Wisconsin of violating the Help America Vote Act for not having a state-based administrative complaint procedure to address alleged violations by the state elections commission of the 2002 federal law.

Actions by the Wisconsin Elections Commission “have left complainants alleging HAVA violations by the Commission without any recourse,” attorneys for the Justice Department wrote. “With no opportunity or means to appeal, complainants are left stranded with their grievances.”

The elections commission just received the letter and has no comment while it is being reviewed, spokesman John Smalley said.

But Jacobs, chairwoman of the commission, said the commission can’t decide complaints against itself. Jacobs said that position was backed up by a 2022 ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court when it was controlled by conservatives.

“It appears that they’re like, ‘How dare you follow state law,'” Jacobs said. “I don’t know what it is they want us to do.”

According to the letter, Wisconsin has received more than $77 million in federal funding from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Justice Department threatened to stop any future payments. But Jacobs said that money was allocated years ago and the state currently receives no funding from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and none is proposed, leaving nothing to cut.

Nonetheless, the letter could put state funding in jeopardy.

Republican leaders of the state Legislature’s budget committee delayed a scheduled Thursday vote on how much state funding the Wisconsin Elections Commission will receive over the next two years.

“Out of caution, we think we’re just going to wait and see,” the committee’s co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein said. “We need to analyze this and see what implications are made, maybe for the entire Elections Commission, and what impact that may have on the budget.”

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Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report.