Tony Evers sets special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy for May 12

MADISON - A special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy will be held in May — three and a half months later than originally planned.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers set the new election schedule Friday after discovering the one he'd initially established violated federal law because it didn't give military and overseas voters enough time to get absentee ballots.   

Under the new plan, the primary will be Feb. 18 and the general election will be May 12. 

The primary will fall the same day as the regular spring primary, but the general election will come a month after the April 7 election, when voters will choose a state Supreme Court justice and Wisconsin Democrats will say who they want their presidential nominee to be. 

Duffy, a Republican from Wausau, stepped down last month because his wife was about to have a baby with severe health problems. Their daughter, born days after Duffy resigned, has a heart defect and Down syndrome.

Evers initially called a special election for Jan. 27, with a primary on Dec. 30. That schedule ran afoul of a federal law that requires military and overseas voters to be able to obtain absentee ballots at least 45 days before any election — including a primary — for federal office.

Aides to Evers said he couldn't align the special election fully with the regular spring election. That's because there would not be enough time to certify the primary results and have general election ballots available on the timeline required by federal law for federal offices, they said.

Republicans criticized Evers for putting off the special election for so long after initially saying he wanted to make sure northern Wisconsin had representation as quickly as possible.  

Republicans were hoping for a special election in April because they believe it would have boosted GOP turnout and helped conservative Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in his bid for a full term.

"So much for Dems wanting a prompt replacement in WI-07," Mark Jefferson, the executive director of the state Republican Party, wrote on Twitter. "General now 5 weeks after April 7 election. Hypocrites."

Running in the Republican primary to replace Duffy are Tom Tiffany, a state senator from Minocqua; Jason Church, an aide to U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson who was awarded a Purple Heart after he lost his legs in combat in Afghanistan; and Michael Opela, who describes himself as a former chef, stockbroker, engineer and businessman now living on a hobby farm in Edgar.

The Democrats in the race are Tricia Zunker, the president of the Wausau School Board, and Lawrence Dale, an insurance salesman who lives near the Wisconsin border in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

Whoever wins the special election will have to run again in the fall of 2020 if he or she wants to stay in office. 

On Twitter, Tiffany said Evers had "bungled" scheduling the election. Church in a statement said he'd always been "ready for duty, on whatever day our Democratic governor puts the election."

Congress in 2009 amended a long-standing law to give military and overseas voters more time to obtain absentee ballots. Wisconsin legislators in 2011 responded to the updated federal law by moving the primary in fall elections from September to August.

But they didn't fix the schedule for special elections, creating a conflict between state and federal law over when primaries in those elections must be held. State lawmakers have been aware of the problem for years but haven't addressed it.

Evers called on lawmakers to change the state's special election statutes so they comport with federal law.

He also urged the Assembly to pass Senate Bill 71, which would have the state cover some costs for special elections that now fall to local governments. The Senate unanimously passed the legislation last week.

The Assembly plans to take up that legislation, said Kit Beyer, a spokeswoman for GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester.

In a statement, Vos said he wanted to make other changes to the special election law. 

“It’s clear that after the way this election was mishandled, there needs to be a shorter time frame to call special elections so Governor Evers can’t drag his feet again," Vos said in his statement.

The election to find Duffy's replacement is the first time the issue has arisen since the federal law changed. The special elections that have been held in recent years were for local and state offices, which don't have to follow the same rules that elections for federal candidates do. 

Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.