Politics & Government

Election Officials Eye May 8 for Recall Primaries, June 5 for General Election

The Government Accountablity Board says recalls against four Republican senators can move forward; 25,495 of the roughly 931,000 Gov. Walker recall petition signatures — not 1 million — have been struck.

Election officials are homing in on an early June general election for Wisconsin’s next wave of recall votes.

The state Government Accountability Board, the non-partisan agency that oversees elections, met Monday to discuss , but also to settle issues surrounding recall efforts against Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

While the dates aren’t definitive, the GAB is eyeing a June 5 general election date, with primaries on May 8.

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The board won't formally approve the dates until petitions against Walker and Kleefisch are verified, as it wants to schedule all summer recalls for the same day. However, the dates still require the approval of a Dane County judge before moving forward.

On Monday, the board voted unanimously to ask a Dane County judge for an 11-day extension for vetting Walker and Kleefisch recall petitions — a change from Friday, when GAB Director .

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In late January, Dane County Judge Richard Niess granted the GAB 61 days to vet petitions, ending March 19. Under state law, the GAB originally had 31 days to review the petitions.

Under the current deadline, a primary would occur on May 8 and general election on May 29.

A hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in Dane County Circuit Court before Judge Niess, where he will rule on the board’s request.

A recall election must be held on the Tuesday six weeks after the officials certify that the petitions to be valid and orders a recall, according to state statues.

The four state Republican senators targeted for recall issued legal challenges regarding validity of signatures, which election officials denied. Within the challenges, the lawmakers asked the GAB incorporate the findings the , and consider any challenges to the petitions the group would file.

Election officials have already said they would not accept third-party challenges offered by Walker, but say they are interested in reviewing the group's results for instances of possible fraud.

The effort to recall Walker began on Nov. 15, with organizers having 60 days to collect a little more than 540,000 signatures.

With great fanfare organizers claimed to have , but Kennedy said on Monday the actual total was 931,042.

Election workers have struck 25,495 signatures thus far, leaving 905,547.

In addition, GAB staff has eliminated 29,125 signatures from the 842,860 submitted by Kleefisch recall organizers, still leaving 813,735.


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