Wisconsin Republicans to Cast Electoral College Votes for Trump in Line With Federal Law

Residents vote in the village of Freedom, Wis., on Nov. 1, 2024. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Wisconsin Republicans will meet to cast the state’s Electoral College votes for President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday, in accordance with federal law, after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to clarify the date lawmakers should convene.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin sued Gov. Tony Evers, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul last week to resolve the discrepancy over when the state’s appointed electors must meet to cast votes for the 2024 election.

The case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge James Pederson on Thursday after all parties in the lawsuit agreed that federal law, not state law, takes precedence, essentially making the lawsuit moot.

Under Wisconsin state law, electors for president and vice president must meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes.

That differs from federal law, or specifically the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) of 2022, which dictates that the electors of the president and vice president of each state shall meet and give their votes “on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.”

In its lawsuit, the Republican Party of Wisconsin said it has a vested interest in ensuring the votes of its assigned presidential electors are validly cast and will not be contested when Congress meets on Jan. 6, 2025, to count the Electoral College votes.

If the presidential electors do not follow federal law when they cast their votes, then those votes could be contested, the party said in the Dec. 6 complaint.

The party, which is tasked with organizing the voting meeting, could face criminal or civil penalties if it acts in contravention of either state or federal law, it said.

The state law requirement is therefore “unenforceable and void,” the party said.

The state Department of Justice and the Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed that the votes should be cast Tuesday, in accordance with federal law. The Justice Department asked that the case be dismissed.

The ECRA was passed in 2022 as part of efforts to modernize the outdated 1887 Electoral Count Act, which lawmakers said contained ambiguous provisions.

In a statement at the time, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), who introduced the bill, said the new, updated act, “fixes the flaws of the archaic and ambiguous Electoral Count Act of 1887 and establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President.”

As of October, a total of 15 states had updated their laws to address ECRA requirements, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Trump and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) won Wisconsin during November’s presidential election with 1,697,626 votes, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

That compared to 1,668,229 votes for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and vice-presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

The Epoch Times contacted spokespersons for Evers, Kail, and Wolfe for comment but received no replies by publication time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.