Background
Milwaukee residents Dennis Eucke, Justin Gavery, and Joe Nolan sued the City of Milwaukee Election Commission and the Wisconsin Elections Commission, alleging failures to comply with voter-registration laws. Their complaint acknowledged that they had not first filed an administrative complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The Milwaukee Election Commission moved to dismiss under Wisconsin Statutes § 5.06, which requires an elector challenging an election official’s decision, action, or failure to act to file a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission and await its disposition before beginning a court action. The residents argued that the Milwaukee commission was a board rather than an “individual” and therefore was not an “election official” subject to that procedure. The circuit court dismissed the claims against the Milwaukee commission without prejudice and directed the residents to pursue the administrative process first.
The Court’s Holding
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed. It held that “election official,” as used in § 5.06, includes the City of Milwaukee Election Commission. Although § 5.02(4e) generally defines an election official as an “individual,” the definitions in § 5.02 apply unless context requires otherwise.
Excluding Milwaukee’s board of election commissioners from § 5.06 would prevent the Wisconsin Elections Commission from exercising its statutory compliance authority over Milwaukee elections and would deny Milwaukee residents the administrative review available elsewhere in Wisconsin. The court considered that result absurd and unreasonable. It therefore concluded that the residents had to file an administrative complaint before commencing their circuit-court action.
The court also rejected the residents’ reliance on Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission. The relevant discussion appeared in a plurality opinion and did not command a majority, while the cited concurrence merely recited the statutory definition without adopting the plurality’s distinction between individuals and other persons or groups.
Key Takeaways
- A challenge to an action, decision, or failure to act by the City of Milwaukee Election Commission must first proceed through the administrative complaint process in Wisconsin Statutes § 5.06.
- The statutory term “election official” includes Milwaukee’s board of election commissioners in this context, despite the general definition referring to an “individual.”
- Because the residents did not complete the required administrative process, dismissal without prejudice was proper.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that Milwaukee election disputes are subject to the same initial Wisconsin Elections Commission review process as comparable disputes involving municipal election officials elsewhere in the state. Litigants generally cannot bypass that process by characterizing Milwaukee’s election commission as an entity rather than an individual official.
The opinion is per curiam and unpublished, so Wisconsin rules generally prohibit citing it as precedent or authority except for limited specified purposes.