MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Republicans have filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to resolve a discrepancy between state and federal law over the date on which the state’s presidential primary must convene to determine the Electoral’s ten votes. College in Wisconsin to be delivered for newly-elected President Donald Trump.
State law requires electors to meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, which is Dec. 16 this year. But federal law requires the meeting to take place on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday, which this year is Dec. 17. .
That’s what the Republican Party of Wisconsin asked in the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court demanding that voters follow federal law and cast their ballots on Dec. 17. The lawsuit argues that the state law requirement is unconstitutional and unenforceable and should therefore be voided. .
“If presidential electors do not follow federal law for when to cast their votes, those votes may be challenged,” the lawsuit states.
Recognizing the conflict, Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature attempted to bring the state into compliance with federal law during its last legislative session. The Senate approved it 31-1, but it never received a vote in the General Assembly.
The lawsuit was filed against Governor Tony Evers, Attorney General Josh Kail and Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. Spokespeople for them all declined to comment.
The new day on which the voters would meet was included in a federal law passed with bipartisan support in 2022, revising the rules for certifying presidential election results in response to the January 6, 2021, uprising and Trump’s failed attempt to stay in power.
The law updated a 19th century law that, along with the U.S. Constitution, governs how states and Congress certify electors and declare winners of presidential elections. The law clarifies that the vice president’s role in presiding over the count is only ceremonial and that he or she cannot change the results.
It also states that each state can only send one certified group of electors after Trump’s allies tried unsuccessfully to assemble alternative lists of illegitimate pro-Trump electors in Wisconsin and other swing states where President Joe Biden won.
Fifteen states had updated their laws to comply with the new federal law by mid-October, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.