All 3 election workers in Town of Westfield resign

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — All three election workers in a Wisconsin town of about 800 people resigned last week over a longstanding dispute, just ahead of the start of in-person absentee voting in the crucial 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 cast ballots 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 town clerk,” Trimble told the State Journal, referring to her past work in neighboring Packwaukee. “I now am an election specialist for the entire county, so I’m very familiar with how elections work. I’m confident in my ability to train the election workers, even in a short time period. I have zero concerns.”

Trimble said six volunteers stepped forward after she was appointed, and several others had previously volunteered after the resignations earlier in the week.

The dispute that led to the resignations is part of a long-running local rift related to a former town board chair who lost a recall election last month, the State Journal reported.