Arguments begin in former Rep. Janel Brandtjen’s lawsuit against ERIC elections database

Arguments began Monday in a lawsuit that could change Wisconsin’s participation in a national group that helps maintain state voter laws.

Janel Brandtjen, a former state representative and close ally of President Donald Trump, filed suit in September challenging the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s use of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, a multistate organization that helps states maintain voter rolls.

The complaint argues the state elections agency can’t participate in ERIC because of a new provision in the Wisconsin Constitution barring outside groups from assisting in election administration.

That amendment, approved by voters last spring, emerged from GOP lawmakers’ complaints about outside groups and consultants being used in the 2020 election.

On Monday, Brandtjen’s attorney, Fred Mendicino, argued in Waukesha County Circuit Court that working with ERIC to maintain voter rolls amounts to using outside groups for core election functions, in violation of that amendment.

“There can be no credible argument, from our perspective, that ERIC is engaged in something that can be considered (only) clerical or support in nature,” said Mendicino. “They’re compiling information that goes directly into the poll books.”

Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General Steven Kilpatrick, who represented the Wisconsin Elections Commission, or WEC, argued that ERIC helps provide the state data. But he said the core functions of election day tasks are still performed by elections officials, in accordance with the amendment.

“WEC maintains a voter registration list with ERIC assistance, but that is not what is alleged to be ‘performing a task in the conduct of any primary election or referendum,’” said Kilpatrick, referring to the specific language in the state constitution.

The complaint also alleges details of the state’s contract with ERIC also violate Wisconsin’s open records law because it states that voter data cannot be disclosed without a court order.

Kilpatrick argued that provision of the ERIC agreement “prevents an authority under the Wisconsin public records law … to have some policy of contacting any third party to discuss a public records request prior to release.”

ERIC is composed of dozens of states, allowing government groups to cross-check data lists in order to note when voters move or die. It was among the election administration bodies targeted by election deniers in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump falsely claimed he won.

Several states left the group following that election.

Wisconsin has been part of the consortium since 2016, thanks to a Republican bill that Brandtjen herself voted for.

During her time in the Legislature, she was among the most outspoken promoters of conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election. Brandtjen called for Wisconsin’s results in the 2020 election to be decertified, which the Legislature’s nonpartisan attorneys said was legally impossible.

While in office, she was also involved in an effort to impeach Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. During one Assembly session, she attempted to use a procedural maneuver to force a vote on the issue, but was not recognized by GOP leaders, who called the move a “stunt.”

Brandtjen also sued the Wisconsin Ethics Commission last year, after that body recommended felony prosecution of Brandtjen over an alleged campaign finance scheme.

Brandtjen lost a GOP primary for an open state Senate seat in 2024. She’s currently on the legislative staff of state Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego.