Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 8 - Nominations, primaries, elections.
8.17 - Political party committees.

8.17 Political party committees.
(1)
(a) Political parties qualifying for a separate ballot under s. 5.62 (1) (b) or (2) shall elect their party committeemen and committeewomen as provided under sub. (5) (b). The function of committeemen and committeewomen is to represent their neighborhoods in the structure of a political party. Committeemen and committeewomen shall act as liaison representatives between their parties and the residents of the election districts in which they serve. Activities of committeemen and committeewomen shall include, but not be limited to, identifying voters; assistance in voter registration drives; increasing voter participation in political parties; polling and other methods of passing information from residents to political parties and elected public officials; and dissemination of information from public officials to residents. For assistance in those and other activities of interest to a political party, each committeeman and committeewoman may appoint a captain to engage in these activities in each ward, if the election district served by the committeeman or committeewoman includes more than one ward. In an election district which includes more than one ward, the committeeman or committeewoman shall coordinate the activities of the ward captains in promoting the interests of his or her party.
(b) Each political party shall elect one committeeman or committeewoman from each election district. In this section, each village, each town and each city is an “election district"; except that in cities having a population of more than 7,500 which are divided into aldermanic districts, each aldermanic district is an “election district"; and in cities having a population of more than 7,500 which are not divided into aldermanic districts and villages or towns having a population of more than 7,500, each ward or group of combined wards under s. 5.15 (6) (b) constituting a polling place on April 15 of the year in which committeemen or committeewomen are elected is an “election district". To be eligible to serve as its committeeman or committeewoman, an individual shall be, at the time of filing nomination papers or at the time of appointment under this section, a resident of the election district which he or she is chosen to represent and shall be at least 18 years of age.
(4) The term of office of each committeeman or committeewoman shall end on the date of the meeting held under sub. (5) (b) following each partisan primary.
(5)
(a) The county committee of each political party shall consist of the duly elected committeemen and committeewomen and appointed committeemen and committeewomen residing in the county.
(b) A combined meeting of the county committee and members in good standing of the party in the county shall be held no sooner than 15 days after the partisan primary and no later than April 1 of the following year. At this meeting, the party committeemen or committeewomen and the county committee offices of chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary and treasurer shall be filled by election by the incumbent committeemen, committeewomen and other party members present and voting, each of whom is entitled to one vote. At this meeting, the county committee shall elect the members of the congressional district committee as provided in sub. (6) (b), (c) and (d). The secretary of the county committee shall give at least 7 days' written notice of the meeting to party and committee members. Individuals elected as county committee officers or as congressional district committee members may be, but are not required to be, committeemen or committeewomen. They are required to be party members in good standing. The terms of committeemen and committeewomen, county committee officers and congressional district committee members begin during the meeting immediately upon completion and verification of the voting for each office.
(bm) A county committee may require that candidates for party committeemen and committeewomen file nomination papers with the county committee prior to the combined meeting under par. (b). The form, content and circulation and filing deadlines of the nomination papers shall be established by the county committee.
(c) The secretary of the county committee shall notify the county clerk in writing of the name and address of the elected county committee chairperson within 10 days of his or her election.
(d) The chairperson of the county committee shall notify the chairperson of the state committee of the names and addresses of the individuals elected as congressional district committee members within 10 days of their election.
(e) Except as authorized in this paragraph, all county committee meetings shall be called by the chairperson of the county committee. The secretary of the county committee shall give at least 7 days' written notice of each meeting to the committee members. A majority of committee members may, upon petition to the chairperson signed by all of them, demand that the chairperson call a meeting. If after 3 days the chairperson has failed to do so, the demanding members may designate one of them to call and preside at a meeting, also upon at least 7 days' written notice to all committee members. The member so designated shall provide the notice. Meetings called in either manner have equal standing.
(f) Any of the county committee officers named in par. (b) may be removed from office at any meeting of the committee if at least two-thirds of the committeemen or committeewomen are present; at least 7 days' written notice of the meeting is given to members of the party in the county; the notice discloses that discussion of the removal of one or more officers is on the agenda; and the notice includes and identifies this paragraph. Any such removal, and subsequent filling of a vacancy, shall be by vote of the committeemen, committeewomen and party members present and voting, each of whom is entitled to one vote.
(g) Any vacancy in any county committee office, except the offices named in par. (b) shall be filled by the county committee, except that the county committee chairperson may temporarily fill any vacancy.
(h) The county committee may appoint a committeeman or committeewoman for any election district in which no one was elected. An appointed committeeman or committeewoman has the same responsibilities and may engage in the same activities as an elected committeeman or committeewoman.
(i) Each committee and its officers shall have the powers usually exercised by committees and their officers.
(6)
(a) The congressional district committee shall consist of members elected by the county committee or committees under pars. (b) and (c).
(b) For each assembly district lying wholly within one county, the county committee shall elect 2 persons from each assembly district as members of the congressional district committee.
(c) For each assembly district lying partially within one county, the county committee shall elect one person as a member of the congressional district committee, except that the county committee may elect additional members so that the county has at least 2 members on the committee of each congressional district in which it lies.
(d) County committees may elect alternate members to congressional district committees on the same basis and in the same numbers as they are entitled to elect under pars. (b) and (c).
(e) At least once every year, the chairperson of the congressional district committee shall call, with at least 30 days' notice in writing to the chairperson of the county committee, or committees lying within the district, for a caucus of members of the party in the district. Committee offices of chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, and treasurer shall be filled by a caucus in the time and manner prescribed by the constitution of either the district committee or the state committee. Individuals elected to these offices may be, but are not required to be, members of the congressional district committee. The secretary shall provide notice of all meetings of the congressional district committee.
(7)
(a) Duly elected or appointed committeemen and committeewomen residing in any political subdivision or assembly district may organize a committee for their area upon presenting a petition therefor to the congressional district committee, which petition shall be signed by at least 25 percent of the committeemen and committeewomen who reside in that same area. Upon filing such a petition:
1. The chairperson of the congressional district committee shall call the first meeting within 10 days of delivery of the petition.
2. The secretary of the congressional district committee shall give at least 5 days' advance written notice of the meeting to all committeemen, committeewomen and party members residing in the area of the new committee.
3. Committee offices of chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary and treasurer shall be filled by election in the same manner as that provided for the county committee, and may be filled by individuals who are not committeemen or committeewomen.
4. Additional meetings may be called in the same manner as that provided for the county committee under sub. (5) (e).
5. Holders of committee offices may be removed and subsequent vacancies filled in the same manner as that provided for the county committee under sub. (5) (f).
6. Committeemen and committeewomen who are members of committees organized in any political subdivision or assembly district retain their status as members of the county committee.
(b) Assembly district committees shall also include as members those individuals elected by the county committee under sub. (6) as members of the congressional district committee.
(8)
(a) The congressional district committee shall elect at least 2 individuals to become members of the state committee. Those elected may be, but are not required to be, members of the district committee.
(b) The state committee may consist solely of members elected under par. (a) or may consist of those members and as many other members called for and chosen in the manner prescribed in the constitution of the state committee.
(9)
(a) If a county has no committee as provided by sub. (5) (a), residents of that county may voluntarily form a committee, which, upon approval of the state committee and certification by the secretary of the state committee to the commission and the county clerk or board of election commissioners, shall then become the county committee with equal standing as if it had been organized under sub. (5) (a). This standing shall remain unless and until a committee is organized under sub. (5) (a).
(b) Members of a committee organized under par. (a) are not, and shall not be known as, committeemen and committeewomen.
(10) Committeemen and committeewomen who are members in good standing of their county parties, by virtue of their offices, shall be granted credentials for participation in any caucus or convention called by their congressional district committees or the state committee, and those credentials shall be distributed at least 21 days in advance of the meeting by the secretary of the committee calling the caucus or convention.
(11) The names of the committees shall be that of the identifying name followed by Party of ...., the blank to be filled with the name of the county, congressional district, or other geographic areas.
(12) The secretary of the state committee of each recognized political party under s. 5.62 (1) (b) or (2) shall notify the commission in writing of the name and address of the elected state committee chairperson within 10 days of his or her election.
History: 1971 c. 304 s. 29 (1), (2); 1971 c. 336; 1973 c. 334; 1979 c. 260, 311, 355; 1981 c. 116; 1983 a. 484, 549; 1985 a. 131, 304; 1987 a. 391; 1991 a. 316; 1993 a. 184; 1999 a. 182; 2003 a. 265; 2011 a. 75; 2015 a. 118 ss. 100, 266 (10).