What we know (and don't know) about Milwaukee's plan to handle elections under new leadership

Days after Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson announced that Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall would not be reappointed, few details have emerged about how the administration plans to ensure that November’s closely watched presidential election will go smoothly.

Johnson announced Monday that he planned to nominate Election Commission Deputy Director Paulina Gutiérrez to take the helm of the commission. Gutiérrez was appointed deputy director in early 2023, after the 2022 midterm election.

Johnson's spokesman, Jeff Fleming, on Wednesday said Gutiérrez would be provided staff, money for equipment and the commission's work, and people from city government to staff polling locations and central count, the single location where the city's absentee ballots are counted. Woodall earlier this year gained approval from the Common Council and Johnson to accept grants for nearly $800,000 for election equipment and $250,000 for voter education.

"There's some very knowledgeable people within city government right now who have worked regularly at different locations. I've worked central count on a number of occasions. So, there are people who know the operations and, when needed, we will find outside resources as well," Fleming said. "But, frankly, there's already a high level of confidence that the elections coming up this year will be run well."

Fleming did not name specific people who will be available to help and declined to confirm a report from the Associated Press that former Executive Director Neil Albrecht will be returning to help Gutiérrez in a volunteer role.

Johnson has a "high level of confidence in Paulina," Fleming said, adding that she was brought in to understand and lead the office.

Woodall was told last week that she would not be reappointed to the position she has held since 2020, a move that comes six months before the presidential election in which Milwaukee's election administration will again be under close scutiny.

Intense election scrutiny expected again in 2024

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, has continued to falsely claim that Milwaukee voters in 2020 cast "illegal votes." That year, Trump lost the swing state to Democrat Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes after the state had elected Trump by a similar margin just four years earlier.

The Trump campaign paid for recounts of votes in Milwaukee and Dane counties in 2020, and his legal team sought unsuccessfully to have thousands of absentee ballots thrown out in both counties.

Intense national scrutiny on Milwaukee and Wisconsin is expected again in the November rematch between Trump and Biden. The Republican National Committee and Trump campaign have announced plans to have a legion of volunteers and attorneys monitor and challenge voting processes in battleground states like Wisconsin.

Johnson has downplayed the timing of the change at the Election Commission, telling WISN-TV's Matt Smith earlier this week that he was appointing cabinet positions like the Election Commission executive director now that the April 2 election is over.

Gutiérrez is now running the office.

In a Sunday memo to staff, Gutiérrez wrote that she "is building a network of people with experience in elections to support our efforts in this upcoming critical election year. I am also connecting with other jurisdictions and election leaders to assist in my transition as the new Executive Director. The Mayor has assured me that we will be provided with the appropriate resources as we move into the fall to ensure our success."

She did not respond to a phone call and text messages seeking an interview this week.

'Transition' in the works with Claire Woodall

Woodall is working with the Mayor's Office and the city on how she can help with the transition at the Election Commission, City Department of Employee Relations Director Harper Donahue IV said.

And while Johnson and others have said Woodall had been offered a different position at the city, it seemed unlikely to be her next move. The position, which she had detailed in a June email to others at the city, would focus on "voting and civic engagement."

Woodall in a text message Wednesday confirmed she was working with the city on a transition but said it does not include the civic engagement position.

Cavalier Johnson administration remains largely mum on decision to not reappoint Woodall

It remains unclear why Johnson decided not to reappoint Woodall.

"It's more of a personnel matter as opposed to a matter of her technical ability to do her job," Johnson told Smith.

Fleming declined to expand on why she was not reappointed.

"Claire is a very talented person and she will deploy those talents in some very important ways going forward," Fleming said. "Ultimately, the mayor has to make a decision about his cabinet members and in three different cases he chose to put other people into specific cabinet offices."

In a Monday statement in which he announced Gutiérrez's nomination, Johnson also named different people than the incumbents to the cabinet positions of lead lobbyist and labor negotiator.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com. Mary Spicuzza can be reached at mary.spicuzza@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What we know about Milwaukee's election plans after leadership shakeup