© Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, FileKimberly Zapata, deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, instructs workers processing ballots, Tuesday, April 5, 2022, at the central counting facility in Milwaukee, Wis. The Republican chair of the Wisconsin Assembly's elections committee along with a veterans group and other voters have filed a lawsuit seeking a court order requiring the sequestering of all military absentee and mail-in ballots in the battleground state. The lawsuit from state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, filed Friday in Waukesha County Circuit Court, comes after Zapata was charged with felony misconduct in office and three misdemeanor counts of election fraud.
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The Republican chair of the Wisconsin Assembly's elections committee along with a veterans group and other voters sued on Friday, seeking a court order to sequester the ballots.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell denied that request for a temporary restraining order in a ruling from the bench following a two-hour hearing Monday afternoon.
"That just seems to be a drastic remedy," he said of sequestering the ballots.
The judge also denied a request from state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, who was represented by attorneys from the conservative Thomas More Society, to order the elections commission to withdraw its guidance to clerks about absentee ballots from members of the military. Brandtjen has pushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
The judge said the case did raise questions about whether the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission was adequately informing the state's 1,800-plus election clerks about their duty to maintain a list of eligible military voters.
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