A Dane County judge put the state one step closer to making the recall elections a certainty by officially granting state election officials an extension to review recall petition signatures until March 30, which would set the dates of recall elections to May 8 and June 5.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Richard Niess issued an order Wednesday to extend the deadline 11 days from March 19 to March 30 in order for the Government Accountability Board to complete its examination of the recall petitions for Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

According to a GAB statement, the new deadline would set the recall elections for a May 8 and June 5. The May 8 elections would be for the necessary primaries as well as the general elections for races with only one challenger. The winners of the May 8 primaries would face the incumbents on June 5 in a general election.

GAB spokesperson Reid Magney said the recall elections are not yet certified because the petitions still face review from the board.

“[The elections] are not set in stone yet,” Magney said. “On March 30, the board will look at what the results of the duplicate reviews are, and if not enough signatures are struck, then the board will order a recall election.”

State law requires a recall election be held “on the Tuesday of the sixth week” after the board certifies the recall election, according to the GAB statement. Since the previous deadline for the review was March 19, the elections would have been on May 1 and May 29, the day after Memorial Day.

Wisconsin Republican Party spokesperson Ben Sparks said his party is pleased with the decision to extend the GAB deadline, as well as holding recall elections on the same dates.

“Aligning the recall elections on the same date is the most efficient way to go through this baseless recall process with the least cost for the taxpayers,” Sparks said.

Jeremy Levinson, an attorney representing the incumbents’ challengers, said the Democrats are content with election dates being set.

“The extension [the GAB] got is one that gives us certainty of when these elections are going to happen,” Levinson said. “Finally, we have some dates to work with.”

The GAB statement estimated the costs of a recall election to be around $9 million, which includes about $840,000 in one-time costs for the board and a second election costing approximately $8.1 million. If the state Senate recall elections were held on separate dates, each one would have cost approximately $1 million.

This deadline extension was critical for the GAB due to a duplicate review ordered by a Waukesha County judge earlier this year for the recall elections of Walker and Kleefisch, according to the statement.

The recall elections last summer went through the standard review of petitions by the GAB, which would have been the standard for this round of recall elections. Magney said although the duplicate review was only ordered for the petitions against Walker and Kleefisch, the board will also complete an additional review of the petitions for the four Republican state senators who face recall elections.