The Wisconsin Elections Commission declined to vote Wednesday on whether the state’s top elections official should appear before a state Senate hearing on her reappointment as a fight continues over who will lead elections in the critical battleground state ahead of the 2024 presidential race. Without clear instructions from commissioners, it is up to Meagan Wolfe, the […]
Category: Government
Posted inGovernment
Lawsuit targets Wisconsin legislative districts resembling Swiss cheese
The challenge to noncontiguous districts could provide judges a way to decide the case without ever addressing whether partisan gerrymandering is illegal.
Posted inGovernment
Bullied by her own party, a Wisconsin election official’s GOP roots mean nothing in volatile new climate
Republican elections commissioner Marge Bostelmann refuses to support false claims that Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election.
Posted inGovernment
Wisconsin Democrats on ‘veto watch’ after Tony Evers blocks 10 bills
Republicans don’t control two-thirds of the Assembly, but they only need two-thirds of those present on a session day to override the governor’s veto.
Posted inGovernment
Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice accuses liberals of ‘raw exercise of overreaching power’
The four liberal justices, on just their second day as a majority on the court after 15 years under conservative control, voted to fire Randy Koschnick.
Posted inGovernment
New Wisconsin lawsuit seeks to toss Republican-drawn maps
A lawsuit filed Wednesday asks Wisconsin’s newly liberal-controlled state Supreme Court to throw out Republican-drawn legislative maps as unconstitutional.
Posted inGovernment
Election disinformation campaigns targeted voters of color in 2020. Experts expect 2024 to be worse
As the 2024 election approaches, community organizations are preparing for what they expect to be a worsening onslaught of disinformation targeting communities of color and immigrant communities.
Posted inGovernment
Wisconsin judge dismisses lawsuit over military voting lists
A Wisconsin judge has dismissed a lawsuit that came in response to the actions of a top Milwaukee elections official who falsely requested military absentee ballots.
Posted inGovernment
Senators rebuke Wisconsin congressman who yelled vulgarities at high school-age pages
A freshman Republican congressman from Wisconsin yelled and cursed at high school-aged pages for the U.S. Senate during a late night tour of the Capitol, action that elicited a bipartisan rebuke from Senate leaders.
Posted inGovernment
AI is starting to affect our elections. Wisconsin has yet to take action.
The state of Washington required political ads to disclose if they use artificial intelligence while others banned deepfake technology in the runup to an election.
Posted inGovernment
Milwaukee County approves sales tax increase as part of plan to avoid bankruptcy
The Milwaukee County board has voted to nearly double the county’s sales tax, two weeks after the city of Milwaukee approved a local sales tax increase as part of a bipartisan plan to avoid bankruptcy.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
JusticePoint offers incarceration alternatives in Milwaukee. Two judges tried to cancel its contract.
This story is part of a collaboration between Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and The Appeal. Four decades ago, a newspaper investigation described Milwaukee’s municipal legal system as “cash register justice.” Thousands of impoverished residents with mental health or substance use issues languished in county jails due to unpaid civil violation fines, costing taxpayers […]