This post originally appeared at https://wisconsindailystar.com/news/court-rules-wisconsin-elections-commission-illegally-used-voter-registration-form/mkittle/2023/09/07/

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has lost a lawsuit challenging its use of an unlawful voter registration form, the latest legal problem for a controversial state elections regulator with a history of bending the law.

The lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of Wisconsin taxpayer and voter Richard Braun, challenged the use of the National Mail Voter Registration Form in Wisconsin.

Issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the form is accepted in most states. But Judge Michael P. Maxwell agreed with WILL that the elections commission never lawfully adopted the form’s use in the Badger State and it failed to meet statutory requirements.

“It is unfortunate that time and time again Wisconsinites have to go to court to force state agencies to follow the law,” said Lucas Vebber, deputy counsel for the Milwaukee-based conservative law firm. “Today’s win is a tremendous victory for Wisconsinites, and sends yet another strong message to bureaucrats who disregard the rule of law.”

In a July 2022 letter, WILL advised the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) that the national form — in many ways —violated state law. Attorneys asked when and how the form was approved for use in the state.

WEC, according to court documents, was unable to produce any records showing the form was approved.

“WEC’s inability to provide such basic information was highly unusual, given that the Election Manual which WEC publishes and provides to all municipal clerks states—as a fact—that the Form had been approved for voter registration in Wisconsin,” the law firm stated in a press release.

In September 2022, WILL filed a lawsuit, alleging the elections commission violated its statutory duty to ensure that elections in Wisconsin were administered in a lawful manner by allowing the use of the form — despite its many inconsistencies with state law.

A year later, Maxwell has ruled that the use of the national form to register voters in Wisconsin is illegal. The judge enjoined WEC from issuing any guidance that states the form is approved for use unless it is legally adopted. He ordered the commission to withdraw any existing guidance which purports to allow use of the form, and to notify all municipal clerks that it may not be used going forward.

WEC unsuccessfully argued that Braun lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. And the agency insists the national form complies with Wisconsin election laws and that WEC has not engaged in any rule-making regarding the form or guidance offered.

Left-leaning activist group vote.org, an opponent of voter integrity laws, in a brief filed with the court made similar arguments, that the national form is lawful under Wisconsin election law and that its use doesn’t require rule-making.

WEC claimed, without evidence, that the national form was approved by a prior election agency “at some point in the past,” the ruling states. That agency? The old Government Accountability Board, the corrupt state elections/campaign finance regulator disbanded by the state Legislature after leading an unconstitutional “John Doe” investigation into Wisconsin conservatives, many allied with then-Republican Governor Scott Walker. That investigation included pre-dawn, armed raids of homes, illegal gag orders, and politically driven bureaucrats and prosecutors targeting the left’s political enemies.

The GAB was led by Kevin Kennedy until he resigned on the verge of being fired.

“WEC attempts feebly to rely upon the affidavit of Mr. Kevin Kennedy, the election agency administrator for the prior two state elections agencies, but Mr. Kennedy as the former chief administrator of elections in this state for nearly thirty-three years can not provide any credible evidence as to where, when, or how the National Form was approved,” the judge wrote.

“WEC was empowered by the State Legislature to administer Wisconsin’s election laws and then directed WEC to exercise that power by prescribing the voter registration forms which are accepted for use in this State,” the ruling states. “WEC has failed in this most basic duty by allowing the National Form to be used in Wisconsin where WEC has never actually proscribed its use.”

The controversial agency has a troubled history of failing to follow law — election or otherwise — and a growing record of losing such court cases.

In July 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the wide-spread use of absentee drop boxes in the contentious 2020 election was illegal under state law. The court also found the election commission’s guidance encouraging their use was unlawful.

WILL filed that lawsuit.

Also in 2022, WEC was forced to remove its guidance allowing local election clerks to “cure” ballots, or correct or write in missing information on absentee ballot return envelopes. Without the “cured” information, the ballots could be rejected. But the practice, amid myriad irregularities and election integrity questions in the 2020 presidential election, created fair voting concerns.

A Waukesha judge ruled that the 2016 guidance violated state law.

As WILL notes, Wisconsinites may easily register to vote using the Wisconsin-specific form, which was adopted by WEC legally and is available online and through municipal clerks. That form, which is in wide use, is not impacted by the court’s decision in any way.

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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Voter Canvassing” by SEIU CC-NC-2.0

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