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Did Wisconsin election chief Meagan Wolfe illegally allow absentee voting in long-term care facilities?

By Tom Kertscher
NO

The six-member bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission approved changes in nursing home absentee voting in the 2020 presidential election that later were deemed illegal.

State law requires local elections officials to attempt twice to send “special voting deputies” to help nursing home residents vote absentee before mailing ballots.

Because of COVID-19, Gov. Tony Evers in March 2020 limited nursing facility access to “essential personnel.”

State elections administrator Meagan Wolfe recommended, and the commission voted 6-0, to waive the visits before absentee ballots were mailed for the April 2020 primary.

The commission later voted 5-1 to renew that guidance for the November 2020 general election.

In October 2021, the Legislative Audit Bureau determined that both commission decisions broke the law.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Nov. 7, 2023, he did not expect the Assembly would soon take up a resolution, pushed by fellow Republicans and former President Donald Trump, to impeach Wolfe.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.
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