Supporters of former President Donald Trump, including a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justicesubmitted more than 9,000 signatures on Tuesday in an effort to force a recall of Wisconsin’s Republican-elect after their first attempt failed.
They focused Chamber Chairman Robin Vosthe longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history after refusing to oust the official overseeing elections in the battleground state, angering Trump and his followers.
Wisconsin’s bipartisan election board must determine if there are enough valid signatures to trigger a recall election. The panel rejected the first attempt because there were not enough valid signatures.
The petition circulators said they submitted 9,022 signatures, mostly from voters in the district where Vos was last elected to serve in 2022, and not the district where he now lives under the new rules in effect for the November election . They need 6,850 valid signatures to force a recall election in the district where Vos was elected to serve.
In March, the group submitted more than 9,000 signatures, but the election commission ruled that only 5,905 were valid.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who worked with the group, said the previous effort was “sabotaged” but that stricter efforts were made this time to ensure only valid signatures were collected.
Vos, who has derided those who targeted him as “idiots and idiots,” said the first recall “involved massive election fraud.”
“We are hearing reports that this effort will have similar problems,” he said in a statement. “Once again, we look forward to rooting out any form of crime and ensuring that anyone who participates in an effort to defraud Wisconsin voters is held accountable.”
Vos has 10 days to challenge the signatures on a number of grounds, including if a person signed more than once, signed someone else’s name or does not live in the legislative district. He may also object if he believes that the person distributing the petition misled the signer as to its intent, or if a signature was not collected during the permitted circulation period.
The election commission has 31 days to determine whether the petition has enough valid signatures. This can be appealed to the court. If a petition is determined to be sufficient, a recall election must be called six weeks later.
The committee will meet on June 27, the day before the deadline, to determine whether a recall should be ordered. If there is a vote to declare one at that meeting, the election would take place on Aug. 6 under state law — just a week before the regular fall primary on Aug. 13.
If more than two candidates run in a recall election, the primary for that would be August 6, with the recall election on September 3.
That could potentially create a scenario in which a recall election is decided a week before Vos appears in the Aug. 13 primary as a candidate for a new two-year term as chairman that begins in January.
In Wisconsin, candidates can be removed if they are defeated in a recall election. Gableman said Tuesday he did not know who would flee.
No Republican has yet filed to challenge Vos in the November primary.
If he is recalled, Vos will lose his office for the rest of the year. Parliament is not scheduled to meet again until January.
Vos angered Trump and his supporters in Wisconsin by rejecting calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in the state. Biden’s victory by about 21,000 votes has withstood two partial recounts, numerous lawsuits, an independent audit and a review by a conservative law firm. . Vos further angered Trump supporters when he did not support a plan to oust Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top election official.
Wolfe has been a target of those who wrongly believe Trump won Wisconsin in 2020.
Vos has repeatedly said he was not in favor of impeaching Wolfe because there was not enough support among fellow Republicans to do so. He has said he wants Wolfe replaced, but a judge last year blocked the Legislature from taking steps to remove her.
The recall is complicated because new legislative plans take effect during the fall elections.
The election commission asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify whether a recall election should take place in the district where Vos was elected to serve or under new district boundaries that take effect for the November regular election.
The court declined to further clarify or change the December ruling, which found the current maps were unconstitutional and barred their future use.
