Wisc. Judge Orders Up to 209K Voter Names Deleted

A Wisconsin judge on Monday found the state's bipartisan elections commission to be in contempt and ordered it to immediately begin removing up to 209,000 names from the state's voter rolls or face fines for each day it doesn't.

Judge Paul Malloy said in his ruling that “time is of the essence in this case" and cannot wait for an Appeals Court or the state Supreme Court to decide the case. He also seemed peeved that commissioners hadn't already begun purging the voter names.

"I cannot be clearer on this. They need to follow the order,” Malloy said.

The state Justice Department asked Malloy to stay his order of contempt pending an appeal of his ruling, but the judge denied the request. Malloy held in contempt the six-person commission and its three Democratic members, who dissented in the case. The three dissenters would each face a $250 fine for every day they they don't comply, but the three Republican members wouldn't. The commission as a whole, however, faces $50 fines every day the purge doesn't happen.

The commission's next meeting is Tuesday.

The commission has asked appeals courts to put the ruling on hold while the legal fight continues, but none of the courts have done so. Malloy said that's irrelevant to his ruling.

“You have this court order, you have an appeal, and a petition to the Supreme Court. But nothing has told this court that it can’t act,” Malloy said.

The case is being closely watched, as Wisconsin is a battleground state that President Donald Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016. Democrats are fighting the lawsuit, saying the purge would unfairly affect their voters. Republicans say they merely want to ensure that people who have moved are not able to vote from their old addresses.

Those bringing the lawsuit argue that the state elections commission, which includes an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, broke the law when it did not remove voters from the rolls who did not respond within 30 days to a mailing in October indicating they may have moved.

The commission wanted to wait until after the November 2020 presidential election before removing anyone because of inaccuracies with a previous round of data identifying voters who had potentially moved. le not to even want to vote,” he said.