Meagan Wolfe

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Over the past four years, Meagan Wolfe has seen a drastic and alarming change in the way Americans perceive the voting process. The administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission says she’s learned there are limits to what her nonpartisan agency can do to change the minds of those convinced that their votes aren’t being accurately counted.

“That was something that was ­really new to us as election officials,” says Wolfe, who has been overseeing Wisconsin’s elections since 2018. “No matter how many facts we presented or how transparent we are about our work, there’s still this misinformation that persists.”

In most states, the chief election official is a partisan position. Wisconsin is unusual in that Wolfe’s post is non­partisan, something she says she takes very seriously in the face of conspiracy theories positing, without evidence, that Joe Biden won the battleground state in 2020 with her help. Wolfe says she and other election officials have been subjected to “four years of continuous attacks,” intimidation, and death threats. She’s also withstood calls from powerful political figures for her to resign. “If we were to give in to those attempts to sway us, to intimidate us out of our roles, what type of message would that send?” she asks. “I just won’t be a part of that, part of allowing those attempts to sway how I operate.”

False claims about Wisconsin elections, even outlandish ones, can use up precious public resources, as local officials and part-time workers find themselves addressing a flood of calls, emails and public-­record requests. Wolfe and her staff have tried to combat election misinformation by quickly setting the record straight. But Wolfe says she’s come to learn that sometimes “it’s best to recognize the noise for what it is, and recognize that just because there’s a loud voice repeating it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s become mainstream.”

The most effective breakthroughs have come from voters who decide to become poll workers so they can root out the alleged misconduct, only to find none. “Not having to take someone else’s word for it, but actually going to see it for themselves does give them a lot more confidence,” she says. “I encourage others that have these concerns to do the same and to get involved.”