MADISON, Wis. — All three election workers in a Wisconsin town of about 800 people resigned last week over a long-running dispute, just before the start of in-person absentee voting in the pivotal swing state and a month before the Nov. 5 election.
An interim clerk was appointed last week to oversee elections in the central Wisconsin town of Westfield, where 538 people voted in the 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020, but he lost in Westfield by 137 votes.
Courtney Trimble, deputy clerk in Marquette County, where Westfield is located, will take the job temporarily, The Wisconsin State Journal reported Wednesday.
“I’ve been a city clerk,” Trimble told the State Journal, referring to her previous work in neighboring Packwaukee. – I am now an election specialist for the entire county, so I am very familiar with how elections work. I am confident in my ability to train the election workers, even for a short period of time. I have zero worries.”
Trimble said six volunteers stepped forward after she was appointed, and several others had previously volunteered after the resignation earlier this week.
The dispute that led to the resignation is part of a long-running local rift related to a former town board chairman who lost a recall election last month, the State Journal reported.