[media-credit name=’Matt Hintz / The Badger Herald’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]

A conservative recall group submitted its report on signature eligibility to the Government Accountability Board Friday, questioning the legitimacy of many signatures on the gubernatorial and state Senate recall petitions.

63,000 recall signatures are ineligible and should not be counted, and an additional 212,000 were deemed questionable, according to a statement released by Verify the Recall, which, according to their website, is a group dedicated to insuring the integrity of Wisconsin elections.

GAB spokesperson Reid Magney accepted the report but said the report would not be factored into any of the board’s analysis of the recall petitions.

Ross Brown, president of We the People of the Republic, VTR’s sponsoring organization, presented the GAB with a physical and digital report of the project’s findings in order to correct the amount of valid signatures.

“Regardless if the outcome is effected or not, the numbers need to be correct,” Brown said. “If signatures are invalid for one reason or another, that needs to be accounted for to uphold the integrity of the process.”

Brown said 580,000 signatures were eligible and stressed the importance of getting the numbers right as the recall process moves forward. The organization fielded more than 14,000 volunteers to verify recall signatures.

The statement by VTR said reports for signatures flagged as “ineligible” or “questionable” by the group also included the recall petition page numbers issued by the GAB. The group’s statement said this information provided by VTR will help the GAB work efficiently in its taxpayer-funded review of the original recall petitions.

The GAB accepted the report and will review it in effort to improve the recall process in the future.

“We’ll be happy to take a look at it in terms of improving the process of recall petitioning as well as any potential fraud,” Magney said.

Magney said help from outside groups is always appreciated but that when the board takes action next Friday, it is going to be based on the work of the staff’s analysis of the petitions, not on information provided by VTR or any other third party.

Wisconsin law states that a recall of politicians may occur if a certain amount of signatures are collected – 540,208 for a gubernatorial recall.

If enough signatures are collected and confirmed by the state, a recall will be established, according to Magney. Once the state confirms signatures, no outside party can challenge the legitimacy of the recall.

“There’s no provision set up for third parties to set up challenges,” Magney said. “The law states how [the recall process] is to be done, and we’re going to be following the law.”

The report VTR submitted is not contesting the recall, but more accurately portraying the amount of legitimate signatures collected.

“Based on our findings, we’ve confirmed that the recalls for all of the individuals who are being recalled should indeed go forward,” Brown said. “Regardless if the outcome is effected or not, the numbers need to be correct.”