The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday granted a petition from the Democratic National Committee seeking a hearing on a lawsuit challenging the Green Party’s access to the November presidential election.
Democrats had previously filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) against Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, arguing that she should not be allowed to appear on the state’s presidential ballot because the Wisconsin Green Party does not have any official officials in the state who could serve as presidential electors.
The WEC rejected the Democrats’ complaint on formal grounds, whereupon the party took the case to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, the WEC voted to allow the Greens to stand on the ballot because they would have received at least 1% of the vote in the 2022 national election.
However, Democrats argue that the party cannot nominate electors for president in Wisconsin, and that without electors, the party cannot be on the ballot. State law requires that electors nominated in October must be state officials, which includes members of the legislature, judges and others. Candidates for the legislature can also be electors.
The law states that the electors “shall be the candidates nominated by each political party in the primary election for the Senate and House of Representatives, the state officers of each political party, and the Senators of each political party remaining in their offices.”
The complaint alleges that the Greens do not have anyone who meets the requirements and therefore cannot be on the ballot.
“Because the Wisconsin Green Party has no affiliated persons who are entitled under Wisconsin law to nominate electors for the Wisconsin Green Party, the party cannot legally nominate a presidential candidate ‘for whom the electors in (any) district may vote,'” the DNC petition states.
Wisconsin Green Party officials have said the organization’s Coordinating Council serves as state representatives who can serve as electors.
In a dissenting opinion written by Justice Rebecca Bradley and joined by Chief Justice Annette Ziegler against the majority decision to accept the case, Bradley objected to the lawsuit’s expedited deadline. After accepting the case on Thursday, the court ordered the parties involved to submit their responses to Democrats on Friday at 5 p.m.
“To my knowledge, the court has never before issued such orders before the parties had appeared or retained counsel,” Bradley wrote. “While WEC has the Department of Justice as counsel, nothing in the record indicates that the Wisconsin Green Party has even yet retained counsel.”
Dr. Michael White, chairman of the Wisconsin Green Party, said the party is still looking for legal representation.
“We do not have legal counsel and have not had the opportunity to get one,” White told the Wisconsin Examiner. “This is an attempt to silence dissenting voices in swing states. We will fight to the best of our ability. The Wisconsin Green Party’s position is that all voices should be heard and all votes should be counted.”
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