Wisconsin election official fear lawsuit after new rule on ballot

(The Center Square) – The 2024 presidential election in Wisconsin could have to go through a courtroom before it makes it before voters.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission approved a new emergency rule that creates a formal policy for ballot challenges for candidates.

Republican Commissioner Bob Spindell said the rule opens the door to a challenges and is part of the push to use the 14th Amendment to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot.

Spindell said the new rule will lead to a flood of lawsuits leading up to the vote next year.

“We should not get in the position, in my opinion, of challenging people in terms of their character. Whether or not they have [been a part] of an insurrection,” Spindell said. “It’s up to the candidate to get the number of voters to sign their petition. And it’s up to the voters.”

Spindell urged the Elections Commission to kill the plan.

Democratic Commissioner Mark Thomsen accused Spindell of lying to voters.

“I think we do a disservice to the public by yelling wolf, when there is no wolf here,” Thomsen said to a chorus of laughs from other commissioners. “This proposed rule doesn’t have anything to do with the [discussion on the 14th Amendment]. This just simply kicks the ball down the road. The legislature can weigh-in, it doesn’t create any new rights.”

Some in a handful of states have talked about using the 14th Amendment, passed following the Civil War to keep former Confederates out of elected office, to keep Trump from running in 2024.

Wisconsin’s Attorney General has not ruled that out here.

“I cannot think of anything less American,” Spindell said. “This is something that goes along the lines of third world countries…This emergency rule could take away our people’s, candidate’s voters’ freedom to choose who they want to represent us.”

Dan Lennington, an attorney with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, agrees with Spindell that creating a formal procedure to challenge whether certain candidates should be on the ballot opens the door to a challenges and lawsuits.

“If you put out a rule that says ‘If you think a candidate is disqualified from being on the ballot,’ what do you think is going to happen?” Lennington told The Center Square. “[WEC] is just inviting to be inundated with petitions to disqualify Trump.”

Lennington said WILL won’t defend the former president. But he said someone will.

“It’s not a question of if there will be lawsuits, but how many lawsuits there will be,” Lennington added. “I imagine someone will sue WEC to keep Trump off the ballot. And I expect suits in Dane County and Milwaukee County to keep Trump off the ballot.”

Spindell was the only Elections Commissioner to vote against the new rule, which passed 5-1. The commission consists of three Republican and three Democrat appointees.