Wisconsin Republicans sue to resolve conflict of when Electoral College votes must be cast for Trump

By SCOTT BAUER The Associated Press

FILE - Members of Wisconsin's Electoral College cast their votes at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, Pool, File)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Morry Gash]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans have filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to resolve a discrepancy between state and federal law about what date the state’s presidential electors must meet to cast Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes for President-elect Donald Trump.

State law calls for the electors to meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, which this year is Dec. 16. But federal law requires the meeting to be the first Tuesday following the second Wednesday, which is Dec. 17 this year.

The Wisconsin Republican Party asked in the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court seeking an order that the electors follow federal law and cast their votes on Dec. 17. The lawsuit argues that the state law requirement is unconstitutional, unenforceable and therefore should be declared void.

“If the presidential electors do not follow federal law for when they must cast their votes, then those votes could be contested,” the lawsuit contends.

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature, recognizing the conflict, attempted to bring the state into compliance with federal law with a bill last session. The Senate passed it 31-1, but it never got a vote in the Assembly.

The lawsuit was filed against Gov. Tony Evers, Attorney General Josh Kail and Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. Spokespeople for all of them declined to comment.

The new day for electors to meet was included in a federal law passed with bipartisan support in 2022 that overhauled the rules for certifying the results of a presidential election in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Trump’s failed attempt to remain in power.

The law updated an 1800s-era law that governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. The law clarifies that the vice president’s role presiding over the count is only ceremonial and that he or she cannot change the results.

It also sets out that each state can only send one certified set of electors after Trump’s allies had unsuccessfully tried to put together alternate slates of illegitimate pro-Trump electors in Wisconsin and other swing states where President Joe Biden won.

Fifteen states had updated their laws to come into compliance with the new federal law by mid-October, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.