MADISON, Wis. (NEWSnet/AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire Meagan Wolfe, the battleground state’s nonpartisan top elections official.

Democrats say the vote was held improperly and that lawmakers don’t have the authority to oust the Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator.

The issue is expected to end in a legal battle.

The fight over who will lead the elections agency stems from persisting lies about the 2020 election and creates instability ahead of the 2024 presidential race for the state’s more than 1,800 local clerks who handle the logistics of elections.

Wolfe has been the subject of conspiracy theories and threats from election skeptics who falsely claim she was part of a plan to rig the 2020 vote in Wisconsin. Election observers have voiced concerns that replacing Wolfe with a less experienced administrator or continuing to dispute her position could create greater instability in a high-stakes presidential race.

The bipartisan elections commission deadlocked in June on a vote to nominate Wolfe for a second four-year term. Senate Republicans pushed ahead regardless, with Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu saying he interpreted the commission's Republican-only 3-0 vote as a unanimous nomination. The three Democrats had abstained.

The Legislature's nonpartisan attorneys and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul both contested that interpretation, saying the law is clear that an elections administrator must be nominated by at least four commissioners.

Wolfe did not attend a Senate committee hearing on her reappointment last month, and the hearing became a platform for some of the most prominent members of Wisconsin's election denialism movement to repeat widely debunked claims about the 2020 election.

The Republican-led elections committee then voted Monday to recommend firing Wolfe.

Biden defeated Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, an outcome that has withstood two partial recounts, a nonpartisan audit, a conservative law firm’s review and numerous state and federal lawsuits.

Wolfe became head of the elections commission in 2018; and has worked at the elections commission and the accountability board for more than 10 years. She has also served as president of the National Association of State Election Directors and chair of the bipartisan Electronic Registration Information Center, which helps states maintain accurate voter rolls.

Copyright 2023 NEWSnet and The Associated Press. All rights reserved.