Judge rejects Walker’s ask to delay deadline to call Wisconsin special elections

A judge rejected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) request to push back a deadline to hold special elections for two vacant seats in the state legislature, Wisconsin Public Radio reported Tuesday.

Walker had asked that the Thursday deadline to call the special elections be moved, as the state legislature plans to take up a bill that would limit special elections in the state. 

However, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess turned down the request, saying there was no basis to delay the deadline.

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“I am not ruling on what the law might be in the future,” Niess said, according to WPR. “I am enforcing the law as it is now.”

Walker was ordered to hold the special elections for the two vacant seats after a lawsuit brought forward by former Attorney General Eric Holder’s group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

The Republican governor had said he planned to keep the seats vacant until the November elections. The two state GOP lawmakers had left the seats to work for Walker.

However, Republican state senators unveiled a bill earlier this week to limit special elections in the state, blocking them from being held in even-numbered years after the state’s spring election.

Niess said Thursday that the request to delay the elections could be brought up in court again if the law is passed.