Wisconsin election officials urge state Supreme Court to reject Phillips’ effort to get on ballot

MADISON, Wis. — Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips sued too late after being left off of Wisconsin’s primary ballot and the state Supreme Court should reject his lawsuit, the state elections commission and a special bipartisan panel said Wednesday. Phillips last week asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to order that his name be added to the primary ballot in the battleground state after he was excluded by the state’s top Democrats who only put President Joe Biden’s name on the April 2 primary ballot. The bipartisan presidential selection committee that didn’t forward his name in time, as well as the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told the Supreme Court in a joint response on Wednesday that Phillips waited too long. The elections commission and presidential selection committee said that ballots must be mailed to military and overseas voters no later than Feb. 15 and to meet that deadline, county clerks need to begin drafting and distributing ballots “as soon as possible.” They asked the court to reject Phillips’ lawsuit by Friday because after that “it will become increasingly difficult each day for the clerks to feasibly get the ballots ready, delivered, and mailed on time.” The joint group said that Phillips’ arguments should be dismissed because he had a recourse to gather 8,000 signatures to get on the ballot but didn’t.