Wisconsin Ethics Commission Administrator Brian Bell returned to his old job at the state Department of Safety and Professional Services on Thursday, two days after Senate Republicans refused to confirm his appointment to the commission.

The Wisconsin Senate was scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to confirm the administrators of the state agencies that run elections and oversee the ethics laws that office holders, candidates and lobbyists have to follow.

Republicans still smarting from a secret investigation into conservative groups and Gov. Scott Walker have scheduled a vote to oust leaders of the bipartisan state agencies charged with running elections and overseeing ethics laws.

The chairman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission said Thursday that Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel can't be trusted to conduct an "objective and complete investigation" into former employees of the now-defunct Government Accountability Board.

Wisconsin Senate Republicans voted Thursday to authorize Attorney General Brad Schimel to start an investigation into the conduct of former workers at the now-dissolved agency that oversaw state elections and ethics laws.

Wisconsin ethics and elections officials are expected to respond to what they have said are inaccuracies in a report by Attorney General Brad Schimel about a now-closed secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's campaign.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel didn't ask a journalist to reveal who leaked documents to him that were collected during the investigation of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign out of respect for the reporter's free-speech rights, Schimel's spokesman said Thursday.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is not recommending the filing of any criminal charges following its investigation of a leak of information collected during a now-closed secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's campaign.

Will the breaking up of the state’s Government Accountability Board into two agencies controlled mostly by representatives of the main political parties result in nothing more than gridlock and inaction?

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says the state elections board does not have to turn over its investigative records to auditors.

The state of Wisconsin has settled a federal lawsuit brought by Republican Mitt Romney's campaign seeking more time for military and overseas voters in Wisconsin to return ballots that were sent past a federal deadline.

Although it appears Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser is about to win the biggest legal battle of his career, he should be worried, even embarrassed, about the cost.

Wisconsin's elections chief says a state Supreme Court ruling on voter ID before Nov. 6 wouldn't provide enough time to get ready for the change at the polls.

Gerald Nichol has been re-appointed to the Wisconsin state elections board.

Robert Kovach, chief of staff for state Sen. Frank Lasee, falls silent to consider the consequences of confusing wording in a major new landlord-tenant law.

Local governments can ban concealed weapons at all manner of polling sites, from city halls to assisted living facilities, state election officials have concluded.

Gov. Scott Walker has re-appointed a former judge to the board that oversees state elections and ethics compliance.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday unanimously dismissed a case challenging campaign rules that require financial disclosure from groups running issue ads for or against candidates.

Wisconsin's board of elections says it will meet soon to discuss whether to appeal a judge's ruling to stop the state's new voter identification law.

A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday granted a temporary injunction to groups trying to stop the state's controversial new voter identification law.

The voting rights of Milwaukee's Latino community would be "significantly diminished" under the redrawn voter maps that the Republican-led Legislature passed last year, an expert witness testified Thursday.

A Washington, D.C.-based group is the latest to file a federal lawsuit against Wisconsin's new voter identification law.

Federal judges on Tuesday postponed a trial over the state's latest election maps, telling lawyers for both sides to spend the day determining whether lawmakers would consider drawing new maps.

When Florence Hessing tried to get a state-issued photo identification card to comply with Wisconsin's new voter ID law, the 95-year-old was told she needed her birth certificate.

Democrats got a victory Friday when the Wisconsin Court of Appeals overturned a judge's order for state election officials to be more aggressive in ferreting out fake or duplicate signatures on recall petitions.

A Madison judge has granted state election officials an additional 30 days to verify nearly 2 million signatures on recall petitions against Gov. Scott Walker and five other Republicans.

A Wisconsin judge has delayed a decision on whether to let a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's new voter identification law to proceed.

Judge David Deininger has been selected as chairman of the nonpartisan board that oversees elections in Wisconsin.

Another ethics complaint has been filed against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, claiming free services he received from a law firm violated state law.

State election officials must "take affirmative steps" to remove fake or duplicate names from recall petitions, a judge ruled Thursday, handing a victory to Republican officials who felt the Government Accountability Board wasn't planning to be aggressive enough in vetting signatures.