The Wisconsin State Court of Appeals overturned a ruling Friday that reversed a call for the immediate deactivation of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites from the state's voter rolls.
After a District 4 court ruling temporarily blocked the original decision by Ozaukee County Circuit Court Judge Paul Malloy to quickly remove over 230,000 voters, the new ruling establishes a more concrete block on the voter purge that garnered national attention.
The original lawsuit — filed in the Ozaukee County Circuit Court — centered around state statute 6.50(3), which stipulates voters who do not respond to a notice within 30 days under reliable information they had changed addresses will ultimately be removed from voter rolls.
The appeals court declared the law applies only to local commissions — not the state commission.
“In interpreting the Wisconsin Statutes, courts may not rewrite the plain language of the statutes the Legislature has enacted,” the judges wrote in their opinion. “Acceptance of the arguments of plaintiffs would cause us to rewrite statutes enacted by the Legislature, and that we cannot do.”
In October 2019, the Wisconsin Elections Commission sent letters to 232,000 individuals it believed had moved, and asked them to update their voter registration or confirm their current address.
Non-respondents were expected to be removed from the rolls in 2021.
However, three voters represented by members of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty group believed the state had to remove these individuals from the rolls sooner.
The plaintiffs filed their case in the Ozaukee County Court, and Malloy ruled the voters should be purged immediately in December.
The elections commission — comprised of three Democrat and three Republican commissioners — deadlocked twice on the issue and did not remove targeted voters from the rolls.
In January, Malloy found the three Democratic commissioners — Ann Jacobs, Julie Glancey and Mark Thomsen — in contempt of the court for not seeking to remove the voters from the rolls.
Malloy fined the commission $50 a day and the Democratic commissioners $250 a day for each day they refused to comply with the ruling. No fines were paid as the court of appeals temporarily blocked Malloy’s decision the next day.
WILL indicated it intends to take the case to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.
“Wisconsin deserves clean elections in 2020," said WILL President and General Counsel Rick Esenberg. “It is our intent to seek review in the Wisconsin Supreme Court to ensure that the Wisconsin Elections Commission complies with state law.”
Esenberg previously attempted to get the case to the Supreme Court before the appeals court reached a ruling. The justices declined to hear the case after a 3-3 tie in January.
Justice Daniel Kelley caused the gridlock when he recused himself from the case. Kelley did not want to create any potential conflicts of interest as he will seek re-election this April, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Attorney General Josh Kaul — who represented the WEC — called the decision “a win not only for the voters who were close to being purged, but a win for democracy.”
Wisconsin figures to be a pivotal state as the the 2020 presidential election, and past precedent demonstrates that Wisconsin elections are decided by narrow margins. President Donald Trump won the popular vote in Wisconsin by less than 23,000 votes in 2016 and Gov. Tony Evers won the 2018 gubernatorial race by less than 30,000 votes.
But with the court ruling, over 200,000 Wisconsin voters are able to return to the polls, pending their re-registration or simply confirming their address.
“No voters have been deactivated if they did not respond to the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s mailing in October 2019 to voters who may have moved,” said WEC Director Meagan Wolfe in a statement. “The mailing was to make sure that voters who have moved know how to re-register at their current address and to encourage them to do that before the election or on election day.”
Since the issue made it to court, thousands have verified their addresses and confirmed their voter status. Voters can re-register or check their status online, at their clerk’s offices or at the polls on election day.
“The important thing for voters to know is that if you have moved, you need to be registered at your current address before you can vote,” Wolfe said.
