WEC Chairperson Ann Jacobs Unilaterally Certified Presidential Contest Without Full Commission Vote – Minutes Before Governor’s Certificate of Ascertainment (WI)

On November 30, 2020, Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) Chairperson Ann Jacobs unilaterally signed the “determination of the recount and the presidential contest” without conducting a full vote of the Wisconsin Elections Commission or obtaining recorded approval from the broader Commission membership. This action was taken in the final hours before Governor Tony Evers signed Wisconsin’s Certificate of Ascertainment – a timing that created maximum institutional momentum and minimum opportunity for deliberative review. Another WEC Commissioner, bypassed in the process, publicly called for Jacobs’ resignation in direct response to the unilateral action. The OSC Gableman Report documented that WEC regularly conducted official business – including its drop box guidance of August 19, 2020, and its decisions regarding nursing home absentee voting procedures – without proper majority votes at publicly noticed meetings. Wis. Stat. § 5.05(1e) and § 5.05(5s)(a) require Commission action by majority vote at a publicly noticed meeting. Actions taken without this procedural predicate may be void ab initio under Wisconsin administrative law.