Wisconsin Elections Commission

The Wisconsin Elections Commission is a regulatory agency of the State of Wisconsin established on June 30, 2016 to administer and enforce election laws in the state. The Wisconsin Ethics Commission was also created to administer campaign finance, ethics and lobbying laws. The two commissions replaced the previous Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB).[1]

Membership

The Commission is made up of six members, two of which are appointed by the Governor, and one each by the President of the Senate, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Assembly Minority Leader.[1][2]

The staff of the Commission are non-partisan, and are led by an administrator appointed by the commission and who requires to be confirmed by the Wisconsin Senate.[3] Mike Haas, who had been administrator of the elections division at GAB, was appointed administrator, for a four-year term, effective June 30, 2016.[2]

History

The law to create the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, 2015 Wisconsin Act 118,[4] was signed into law on December 16, 2015 by Governor Scott Walker. The two Commissions formally came into existence on June 30, 2016.

On November 25, 2016, the Commission received a petition from Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein for a hand recount of the votes in the state from the 2016 presidential election. On November 28, the Commission rejected Stein's request for a hand recount, and Stein is seeking to overturn the decision in court.[5][6] The outcome of the court petition is still to be determined.

References

  1. 1 2 "Transition". Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Laurel White (May 13, 2016). "State Elections Commission Names First Administrator". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  3. ↑ "About the Wisconsin Elections Commission". Wisconsin Elections Commission. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  4. ↑ "2015 WISCONSIN ACT 118". Wisconsin State Legislature. December 17, 2015. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  5. ↑ Kyle Feldscher (November 28, 2016). "Wisconsin commission rejects Stein request for recount by hand". Washington Examiner. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  6. ↑ Stein, Jason; Marley, Patrick (November 28, 2016). "Stein sues after Wisconsin refuses to order hand recounts". USA TODAY. Retrieved November 29, 2016.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.