Filed Under: Appellate Law Election & Political Law
Wisconsin Supreme Court Unanimously Concludes Legislature’s Lame-Duck Settlement Statute Is Unconstitutional
Since 2018, Wis. Stat. § 165.08(1), or the “Settlement Statute,” has forbidden the Wisconsin Department of Justice (“DOJ”) from settling or discontinuing any civil action without the approval of the Wisconsin State Legislature. On June 17, 2025, in a decisive win for the DOJ, Governor, and executive branch agencies (the “Petitioners”), a unanimous Wisconsin Supreme […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law Litigation
Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Governor’s “400-Year Veto” and Affirms Expansive Partial-Veto Power
Supreme Court of Wisconsin Upholds Gov. Evers’ 400-Year Veto, Affirms Partial-Veto Power The Wisconsin governor’s partial-veto power is unique. Although some states grant governors the power to veto entire budget line items, Wisconsin’s governor may veto discrete parts of appropriation bills, including words, punctuation marks, and digits. See generally Wis. Const. art. V, § 10(1)(b), […]
Filed Under: Appellate Law Election & Political Law
Court of Appeals Concludes Ballots Lacking Election Official Endorsements Must Be Counted
Wisconsin Court of Appeals issues opinion that voting ballots lacking endorsements from elections officials must be counted On March 6, 2025, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (Dist. IV) issued a must-read election law opinion declining to toss out three ballots cast in a Rock County election. Gonfiantini v. Rock Cnty. Bd. of Canvassers, No. 2024AP1233 […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law Litigation
Wisconsin Supreme Court Limits Standing to Appeal Decisions from the Wisconsin Elections Commission
On February 18, 2025, in a 4-3 vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Kenneth Brown, a voter who raised a number of claims challenging the Racine City Clerk’s use of 22 alternate absentee ballot sites to facilitate in-person absentee voting for the August 2022 primary election, lacked standing to seek judicial review of the […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law Litigation
Wisconsin Supreme Court Preserves Privacy Protections for Court Records of Voters Subject to Guardianships, Affirms Unified Nature of Court of Appeals
By a 5-2 vote, on January 17, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court vacated a District II Court of Appeals decision holding that county registers in probate must provide, in response to requests under Wisconsin’s public records law, copies of Notice of Voting Eligibility (“NVE”) forms—court records relating to determinations of the competency of individuals to […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Supreme Court Ruling Prompts New Guidance for Municipal Clerks on Drop Boxes for Absentee Voting Ballots
Municipal clerks are once again able to use drop boxes to collect returned absentee voting ballots. As many municipal clerks will tell you, “drop boxes” for the return of government documents, including ballots, have been used throughout the state for decades, often in the form of slots or boxes at municipal buildings. They became more […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Attorneys Poland & Deeley Present at State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Meeting
Attorneys Douglas Poland & Erin Deeley present for State Bar on Wisconsin’s election administration and recount laws Attorneys Douglas M. Poland and Erin Deeley will present on a panel on Thursday, June 20, at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Meeting and Conference in Green Bay. Their presentation is part of a three-day program of […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Motion Filed for Temporary Injunction Seeking to Ensure Absentee Voting for Disabled Wisconsinites
Stafford Rosenbaum and WilmerHale file motion for temporary injunction seeking allowance of absentee ballots for Wisconsin voters with disabilities Last week, Stafford Rosenbaum and WilmerHale filed a motion for a temporary injunction in a new case seeking to ensure that Wisconsin voters with disabilities are able to cast their votes by absentee ballot. Wisconsin’s election […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Wisconsin’s New Regulation of AI and Deepfakes in Political Communications
As the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence have increased, so have concerns that generative AI might be used to manipulate voters and the administration of elections in the 2024 presidential election and primaries. The first warning shot came in New Hampshire on January 21, 2024, two days before the New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election, when […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Attorney Jeffrey Mandell Presents on Election Law & the Wisconsin Constitution
Attorney Jeff Mandell to give several presentations on Election Law and Wisconsin Constitution in 2024’s first quarter Jeff spoke to the Carpenters’ Union North Central States Legislative Conference at the Monona Terrace on February 29, 2024. He presented an update on the redistricting case surrounding Wisconsin’s legislative maps. On March 7, Jeff will speak to […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Stafford Rosenbaum Election & Political Law Attorneys File Amicus Brief in United States Supreme Court
Stafford Rosenbaum Files Amicus Brief in U.S. Supreme Court of Behalf of Former Governors ahead of 2024 Presidential Election Stafford Rosenbaum Attorneys Jeff Mandell, Doug Poland, Rachel Snyder, and Carly Gerads filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court today on behalf of three former Republican Governors—Montana’s Marc Racicot, Massachusetts’s Bill Weld, and New […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Attorney Douglas Poland Presents at State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Constitutional Law Symposium
Attorney Doug Poland to Present on Updates in Election Administration and Access to Voting at the Wisconsin State Bar On Thursday, December 7, Attorney Doug Poland will present on recent updates in election administration and access to voting at the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Annual Constitutional Law Symposium 2023. The presentation is part of a day-long […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Attorney Jeff Mandell in the Media Spotlight Surrounding Wisconsin Redistricting
Attorney Jeff Mandell Receives Wisconsin and Nationwide Attention on Redistricting and Wisconsin Legislative Maps Stafford Rosenbaum Partner Jeff Mandell made an appearance on the November 19, 2023 edition of UpFront, a Wisconsin TV broadcast produced by ABC on Sunday mornings. He is part of the counsel team leading oral arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law Litigation
In Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections, Seventh Circuit Reiterates the Low Bar for Intervention and Further Explains the “Uniqueness” Interest for Intervention Purposes
The Democratic Party of Illinois may not intervene in a suit relating to mail-in voting, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The case, Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections, arose when Congressman Michael Bost and two voters challenged an Illinois law that permits completed mail-in ballots to be counted […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Files Lawsuit to Reactivate 31,854 Voters
The League’s second challenge to unjust voter purges in Wisconsin seeks to reinstate voters before 2022 midterm elections. MADISON — Today, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, represented by Fair Elections Center, Law Forward Inc., and Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, filed suit in federal court to reinstate more than 31,000 registered Wisconsin voters who were […]
Filed Under: Appellate Law Election & Political Law
Supreme Court of Wisconsin Denies Legislative Redistricting Rulemaking Petition
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin recently denied a petition submitted by former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (“WILL”), proposing new procedural rules limited solely to legal challenges to new legislative districts, including requiring such challenges to be brought solely to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Stafford Rosenbaum Attorneys […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Wisconsin Supreme Court Holds that Wisconsin Elections Commission Is Not Obligated to Conduct Mass Deactivation of Voter Registrations
In a straightforward interpretation and application of the Wisconsin Statutes and procedural standards governing writs of mandamus, on April 9, 2021, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in State of Wis. Ex rel. Timothy Zignego v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 2021 WI 32, that the Wisconsin Elections Commission (“WEC”) was not obligated by Wisconsin Statutes Section […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Seventh Circuit Calls into Question “Stalking-Horse” Election Claims
Earlier this month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case involving allegations that a candidate for public office orchestrated a plan to put two other candidates on the ballot to split voters and ensure a victory. The case, Gonzales v. Madigan, No. 20-1874, 2021 WL 857476 (7th Cir. Mar. 8, 2021), could have […]
Filed Under: Election & Political Law
Stafford Rosenbaum’s Election and Political Law Team Hard at Work Post-Election
Stafford Rosenbaum LLP’s election and political law attorneys have had a 2020 filled with noteworthy cases. The new practice group was launched this year, co-chaired by Attorneys Jeff Mandell and Doug Poland, and has been even busier in the last quarter of the year with cases involving presidential post-election results challenges. Stafford Rosenbaum represents Wisconsin […]
