As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, about 340 people had filed to run for federal and state offices in Wisconsin for the August primary and/or the general election in November.
Wednesday at 5 p.m. was the filing deadline for races for the U.S. Senate and House, the governor and on down to the State Assembly — though two Milwaukee area Assembly seats have a filing deadline of this Saturday, June 4.
But the final line-up of candidates could still change. Wisconsin Elections Commission staff either have not completed their initial reviews of the more than 120 people who submitted nomination papers this week or the candidates are missing one or more required documents — something they may be able to fix.
Also, people can still challenge a candidate's ballot status. Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said that scrutiny can happen online.
"We have nomination papers for each of the candidates available through our website — badgervoters.wi.gov, where candidates can go (for a fee) and look at other candidates nomination papers. They have the ability to challenge things. Like for instance, they could challenge the residency of somebody that has signed, and say, 'No, that address is not in that district.' Or, they could challenge some aspect of the nomination papers and say the candidates nomination papers themselves did not substantially comply with the statute," Wolfe told WUWM Wednesday.
Wolfe said certain challenges could be spurred by the recent political redistricting.
She said the deadline for filing a challenge is Monday, June 6 at 4:30 p.m. The person challenged then has three days to respond. The appointed members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission will review the challenges on Friday, June 10 at a public meeting.
These are contentious times in the world of politics, and many conservatives are taking aim at the state commission. But Wolfe said she and her staff are ready to administer fair and accurate elections. She also gave a shout out to municipal clerks.
"They really are the ones who are the star of the show and run elections at the local level. They're the ones sending out the absentee ballots. They're the ones training and recruiting poll workers," Wolfe explained.
Many of those clerks are also waiting for the state Supreme Court to issue a ruling on the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, and how much help a voter can get submitting a ballot.
Meanwhile, the commission is waiting to see who Assembly Speaker Robin Vos nominates to the panel, and whether that person will chair the commission. If the Republican lawmaker from Racine County hasn't acted by June 10, departing commissioner Dean Knudson is expected to show up for that day's meeting.
