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Recording in progress
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Good afternoon and thank you for joining today's media availability.
I'm Riley better can the public information officer at the Wisconsin elections commission.
And I'll be helping facilitate today's news conference.
Wisconsin elections commission administrator Megan wolf will provide
brief from our parks and then we'll go to questions afterward.
Once we do get to the question portion of the call, please raise your hand if you'd like to ask a question.
I will now hand things over to elections commission administrator Megan wolf Megan.
Well, thank you Riley and thank you all good afternoon. I really appreciate everyone being here.
I know that's an especially busy day to cover here in the state of Wisconsin.
I'm Megan wolf the nonpartisan administrator of the bipartisan Wisconsin elections commission.
During my 12 years working as a nonpartisan election official.
I've learned that when politicians on either side of the aisle are upset with me.
It's usually because I will not bend to political pressure.
The Senate's vote today to remove me is not a referendum on the job I do, but rather a reaction to not achieving the political outcome they desire.
It's unfortunate that political pressures have forced a group of our lawmakers to embrace unfounded rumors about my leadership, my role on the commission, and our system of elections.
I've learned it multiple times and I'll say it again.
Elections in Wisconsin are run with integrity. They are fair and they are accurate because they are administered by our nearly 2000 clerks across Wisconsin.
What often gets lost in discussions about my position is what the Wisconsin elections commission is and what my role is as their administrator.
The
UEC is comprised of six commissioners, three Republicans and three Democrats, and they were each selected by their respective legislative leadership.
The six commissioners have worked with me closely as their chosen administrator for the past five years, and I have implemented their directives.
The six commissioners have expressed confidence in my work.
I do not have a vote on the commission, nor can I act independent of them.
I applaud the six commissioners in their ability to make tough decisions and that their actions are bipartisan.
I always agree with the direction of the commission's decisions, but my job is to implement their directives clear and simple.
Following the sets vote today, my agency, my commission, our legislature and our state need clarity above all else.
We cannot head into 2024 elections without a final determination of where the law stands regarding the correct course for the position of administrator.
Because the commission is at a procedural gridlock.
And because today's actions by the Senate appear to conflict with the legal opinion of the nonpartisan legislative council and the state's attorney general.
I'm glad to hear that the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which represents the Wisconsin Elections Commission is taking legal action to ask a judge to affirm my position as administrator.
That said, my position as an administrator is of course subject to removal by the majority vote of the commission at any time.
In the meantime, unless a final determination of a court says otherwise, I will continue to serve as the administrator of the WC.
The 2024 election cycle begins in less than three months. There is such important work ahead. And my hope is that we will quickly get the clarity that we need from the courts.
We will accept the courts final determination.
And it will allow election officials across the state to return focus to delivering fair and accurate elections to the state of Wisconsin.
And with that, I'd be glad to answer any questions that you all may have.
Thank you Megan. And if you do have a question, you can raise your hand.
If you have reactions and press raise hand on zoom, or if you're on your phone, you can press star nine. Once you are called upon make sure that you are unmuted on your phone, you'll need to press star six to unmute yourself.
And the first question is from JRO.
Megan, first, like, just a kind of logistics question has D.O.A. told you if you're going to have email access your access, the building, like it said, like you are the administrator in D.O.A.'s view and you will remain that way until the court decision comes down.
That is my understanding that the Department of Administration recognizes me as the administrator and nothing will change in the foreseeable future until we have a court determination.
Thank you, JRO, for that question. Again, if you do have a question, feel free to raise your hand. You can press raise hand or on your phone press star nine.
Next question is from Will Kneeling.
Hey, hopefully you can hear me right.
Thank you. So I guess if the court comes back, kind of finding in favor of the state Senate, and we'll have had this period where you were essentially fired today by the Senate, but still working as the head of the administrator.
What would you say to switch anybody who would be concerned by that contingency?
Yeah, no, I think that's a good and very important question. And I think that the, there's such a unique model in terms of how the commission operates.
But I think it also safeguards us against situations like this.
The decisions are made by the commission, and that's going to continue to be the case.
And so when important decisions have to be made by the Wisconsin elections commissioners, they're going to convene in an open session and they're going to deliberate on those decisions and make them.
My job is to implement those directives. And so I think that that continues to be a very open, transparent way about how decisions regarding election administration are made in the state of Wisconsin.
And I don't see any reason why that can't continue while we're seeking that clarity. And you know, as I said before, I will absolutely respect whatever the final determination of the court is, even if it is not in my, my favor.
Thanks for that question. And now we'll go to Marcus Arspold.
Hi, Megan. I feel like this has been going on for years. How do you, would you have anticipated when your name first got brought up with election integrity, it would take this long and would be where we're at now.
Thank you for that question. You know what it is sometimes difficult to wrap my head around how we still are here.
Watching the hearing that occurred last week watching that so many theories that continue that that we've looked into that have been examined through litigation, through the recounts, through the, the constant fact checking and information that we're providing because we take people's
claims so seriously, it's hard to believe that we're still at a place where those now very well analyzed and debunked claims about our system seem to still be driving decisions that are being made.
So, would I have expected three years ago that we would still be having discussions like this today and that the same claims were still going to be circulating and actually being used to drive decision making.
No, I think that is quite unbelievable really that that's still the case.
Thank you for that question.
Henry Redmond.
Hi, thank you.
Ahead of the vote today, Senator loving you said that they were taking the vote essentially because people don't have confidence in the election system.
How do you think that contrasts with your belief that because people don't have confidence in the election system you have to give them accurate information.
Yeah, you know, and I think that is a good question and it's, it really is something that I take seriously as well is we've got to figure this out and I don't have exactly the answer about how, you know, is there a way to provide information to these folks that have these concerns
because, you know, these concerns are very real to them, even if we have looked into them, even if we have provided information, even if there are final court determinations and recounts that show that our elections are accurate.
We do still have people that are skeptical about the election system.
And so I am very committed to finding ways that we can continue to engage with those folks and find a way to give them the information that they seek that they desire.
But, you know, we also need people that have those questions to be asking them and operating in good faith as well.
I think a lot of the answers, frankly, why with our local election officials, you know, in Wisconsin, we're so lucky to have more local election officials than any other state in the entire country.
So in every single city, town and village in the state of Wisconsin, you have an election expert right there.
You can actually go and watch all the processes. You can watch the voting equipment when it's tested before election day. You can watch the ballots as they're being counted.
You can watch the canvases as they happen at the municipal county and state level, where we double and triple check all of the numbers.
You can actually watch those things in every community in the state of Wisconsin.
And so, you know, I think there's a lot of work to do, not just in the actual administration of elections, but I think we can't give up in trying to ensure that voters that don't feel confident in the election process that they're able to gain that confidence
through exposure to the process through engagement directly with the process. And so how do we make sure that people know about those opportunities.
But I also think that, you know, to do that, to get to a place where people have confidence in elections, everyone needs to be telling the truth about how Wisconsin elections are run.
And I think we have to stop with these.
Any windows or these suggestions that there are issues where there's not misrepresentations of things like my position or my role or what I do, we just have to get down to the actual facts about elections.
And I think that will go a long way to ensuring that folks can have confidence in the process.
And J.R. Ross looks like you hit another question.
So, Megan, you kind of said they're going to call that this vote was because they had failed to achieve the post outcome that they desire. Obviously, Republicans, I guess what I was asked, what do you mean by that? And two, are you setting yourself up for a political conflict with Republicans?
We have that much less faith in the commission because they have a dispute with you.
Yeah, I think that's a fair question. And, you know, as soon as I said that, I knew that, you know, obviously I would want to have an answer for that. The political outcome they desired, I believe, is to get rid of me.
And the reason that they want to get rid of me for political purposes is because I will not bend to political pressure.
And I think that I have demonstrated that over my 12 years as a nonpartisan election official. And I think the political outcome they desire is to have someone in this position of their own choosing that would indeed bend to those political pressures.
In terms of a conflict, you know, that is certainly not something that I want that I desire. I think having a productive relationship with the legislature in terms of being able to provide factual information is very, very, very important.
So in contrast, what's happening in the Senate right now with what's happening in the assembly, where they're looking at bipartisan election bills, they're talking to local election officials about the challenges that they face and about practical solutions to those challenges.
And so it's my hope that everyone will be able to return to that place. And so I think having this declaratory judgment that DOJ is seeking is going to be really useful because it'll help us to see, okay, what did the court say?
Because right now, if I were to make a decision today, it would be giving into political pressure. And so I think the clarity we seek, we're going to get that through the courts, we're not going to get that through the political process.
And so having that clarity will hopefully be able to get us back to a place where we're able to focus on the practical challenges, the practical improvements even that are needed to the election administration process so that we can all be ready for next year.
Thank you, JR, and I'll go to Whitney wild.
Thank you so much for speaking with us. There, you know, of course, are going to be people who say that you're serving in your position illegally. We remain in this heightened threat environment.
The landscape here is toxic, toxic can lead into violence and danger and I'm wondering if you are concerned about your safety at all as a result of this vote.
And I do think that any time we see these unfounded claims being made about election officials, not just me, but election officials at the local level at the county level about our process that it is followed by very passionate responses from people that believe that information.
And sometimes those can border on threatening behaviors, certainly harassing behaviors. And so I don't necessarily know that this is going to lead to that.
But what I will tell you is that we've been able to really fortify great relationships with our law enforcement partners over the years to help us identify, you know, things that might be an actual threat to us.
So I feel very well supported. I feel like there are networks in place to support our local election officials.
But I certainly don't think that these claims that are made about election officials and the heightened rhetoric that it incites is appropriate. And so I hope that we can all stick to the facts to avoid that type of rhetoric from occurring.
Thanks for that question. And I will go to harm than hoisin.
Hey Megan. So it sounds like the result you're hoping for from the courts is for them to affirm that you're in this office indefinitely as a holdover.
If that's the case if they affirm how long do you plan to stay in office for how long would you want to serve in this position for it.
That's that's a really fair question too. So I sort of at the will of the commission. So if the six commissioners decide tomorrow or they decide six months from an hour a year from now that they'd like to remove me.
They can do that at any time that they would like.
And I think that I really do desire clarity from the courts in the situation. And if they affirm my position as administrator, then there's not a minute to spare. I have work to do.
As election officials, we've got to get back to work. And this has really been something that has not allowed us to make as much progress as we should be at this important point in the election cycle.
So, you know, that that is my hope that we're able to get back to work as soon as quickly, whatever that might look like.
But if the court does affirm me in this position, you know, I certainly have no, no intent to remain in this position forever.
My focus is on this next election cycle.
It starts on December 1. So December 1 is the first day that nomination papers for spring election cycle can begin to be circulated. That means even before that we're looking at templates working with candidates so that they can prepare for that deadline.
But once December 1 gets here, the election cycle does not stop until January of 2025. And so I guess my, my desire is to have that clarity so we can get back to work.
With me as the administrator or, or without me, I think election officials just need to be able to get to get back to work. And I'll continue to evaluate what that means for me and my position if the court does affirm me here.
And, you know, really take a hard look at that once we're through this election cycle.
Thanks for that question. And now we'll go to Molly back.
Hi Megan, I, I'm wondering if this dispute over your position isn't resolved by the next election. Do you think it could invite challenges from candidates over the election, the next election outcome from candidates who may be lost the election.
Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think that.
Again, we have a really unique model here in Wisconsin. So in a lot of other states, you may have a secretary of state or an elected official that is signing those final results of an election.
Here in the state of Wisconsin, we have our bipartisan commission, making those decisions, the chair of our commission, making those decisions signing those documents.
And so my involvement in the actual certification of the election is actually very, very limited. I do have the ability of the commission delegates something like that to me.
But in this instance, I think that that's something that's going to be handled by the commission and the chair of the commission.
So I feel confident that the commission will be able to mitigate some of those questions.
That being said, you know, even when everything goes perfectly, even that when we have clarity on issues like this, there are still those questions that seems to be something that is a new part of elections administration is sort of those challenges.
And those questioning of the process, depending on who wins or who loses. And so, you know, it's something that we're always preparing for.
I think that we can go a long way by being even more transparent, you know, elections are already incredibly transparent. You can watch every part of it.
But, you know, I think we can do even more to make people aware of those opportunities to engage with their election process to make sure that people can see themselves that there are no dark corners or locked doors and elections.
And so, you know, I think that we have a responsibility to continue to grow our access to how those decisions are made and to make sure that people understand how those decisions are made.
And we have to document it appropriately. So when those questions arise that we have those things to turn back to.
Thanks Molly for that question. I'm not seeing any other hands raised if you do have a last minute question here will give you a few moments to raise your hand.
not seeing anything. So I just want to thank everyone again for joining our call today.
I believe a recording of this news conference will be posted on Wisconsin I within a few
hours. And so you can you can check with Wisconsin I for that feed. If you do have any other questions
please don't hesitate to reach out to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Thanks everyone.
Thank you