Wis. Stat. » CHAPTER 5 — ELECTIONS — GENERAL PROVISIONS; BALLOTS AND VOTING SYSTEMS
Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 5.08 (2026)

Petition for enforcement

✓ current as of July 2026
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5.085.08 Petition for enforcement. In addition to or in lieu of filing a complaint, any elector may file a verified petition alleging such facts as are within his or her knowledge to indicate that an election official has failed or is failing to comply with any law regulating the conduct of elections or election campaigns, other than a law regulating campaign financing, or proposes to act in a manner inconsistent with such a law, and requesting that an action be commenced for injunctive relief, a writ of mandamus or prohibition or other such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to compel compliance with the law. The petition shall be filed with the district attorney for the county having jurisdiction to prosecute the alleged failure to comply under s. 978.05 (1) and (2). The district attorney may then commence the action or dismiss the petition. If the district attorney declines to act upon the petition or if the district attorney fails to act upon the petition within 15 days of the date of filing, the petitioner may file the same petition with the attorney general, who may then commence the action.
5.08 HistoryHistory: 1983 a. 484; 2007 a. 1; 2015 a. 118.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1990–2022 · leading case: State Ex Rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane Cnty., 2004 WI 58 (Wis. 2004).
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State Ex Rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane Cnty., 2004 WI 58 (Wis. 2004). · cites it 4× “A number of other statutes give the Department of Justice authority to prosecute crimes if the district attorney does not act: see Wis. Stat. §§ 5.08 , 11.61(2), 19.51(1)(a), 19.”
State v. Jensen, 2010 WI 38 (Wis. 2010). · cites it 4× “; Wis. Stat. § 5.08 . The attorney general may commence actions for equitable, legal or peremptory relief to compel compliance with the election laws.”
Sands v. Whitnall Sch. Dist., 2008 WI 89 (Wis. 2008). “See 12 Bender's Forms of Discovery § 5.08[3], at 5-120 — 5-131 (Matthew Bender & Co.”
Richard Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Comm'n, 2022 WI 64 (Wis. 2022). · cites it 2× “, Wis. Stat. § 5.08 (empowering voters who believe "that an election official has failed or is failing to 11 No.”
Richard Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Comm'n, 2022 WI 64 (Wis. 2022). · cites it 2× “, Wis. Stat. § 5.08 (empowering voters who believe "that an election official has failed or is failing to 11 No.”
Dieckhoff v. Severson, 915 F.2d 1145 (7th Cir. 1990). “1989) and Wis.Stat. § 5.08 provide an avenue for relief when an election official is failing or has failed to conduct an election in a manner consistent with Wisconsin law.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.