With more than a million signatures in tow, recall organizers turned over the petitions gathered to trigger a recall election for Gov. Scott Walker, making it the most participated-in recall effort per capita in American history.
United Wisconsin Vice Chair Ryan Lawler said the milestone marks the end of a 60-day process that began November 15 to collect the 540,208 valid signatures required to trigger a election for the governor. He said this is the first statewide recall in Wisconin’s history and the third in the history of the United States.
United Wisconsin turned in a total of 1.9 million signatures to trigger special elections for Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four state senators to the Government Accountability Board on Jan. 17.
Lawler said the recall petitioners turned in 845,000 signatures collected for Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch; 21,000 for Sen. Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls; 21,000 for Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau; 24,000 for Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine; and 20,600 for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau.
In the hours following United Wisconsin’s announcement, Walker’s campaign issued a statement from the governor on the impending recall election and signatures being turned in.
“I look forward to talking to the people of Wisconsin about my continued promises to control government spending, balance the budget and hold the line on taxes,” Walker said in the statement. “I expect Wisconsin voters will stand with me and keep moving Wisconsin forward.”
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said the total number of signatures collected to recall Walker represents nearly half, or 46 percent, of the electorate, and is just a few thousand votes shy of the total votes Walker received in his original run for office in 2010.
A group comprised of recall petitioners from every county that collected signatures for the recall marched around the Capitol Square before heading to the GAB office to turn in the signatures.
According the Democratic Party of Wisconsin’s website, 22 recall petition turn-in parties were held throughout the state. Madison’s was held just blocks away from the Capitol at Monona Terrace.
One day after the signatures were turned in, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced her plans to run against Walker in the recall election in a video on her campaign’s website.
“Thanks to the inspiring grassroots movement that has bloomed in Wisconsin, we have shown we can stand up to Scott Walker’s extreme agenda when we do it together,” Falk said. “Now it is time to show how we can govern, together.”
Friends of Scott Walker spokesperson Ciara Matthews, issued a statement following Falk’s announcement that said the announcement came as no surprise.
“Falk has already lost two statewide elections, failing to earn the trust of Wisconsin voters,” Matthews said. “Governor Walker’s record of success and progress will stand in stark contrast to Falk’s intent to take Wisconsin back to the days of record job loss, massive deficits and double-digit tax increases.”
According to reports filed in the Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System, the Friends of Scott Walker, one of the governor’s campaign fundraisers, has raised $5.1 million since July. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin and United Wisconsin combined have raised about $1.5 million in the same amount of time.
