MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Friday challenged signatures on petitions filed a request for an election to remove him from office, saying there were not enough valid elections.
The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission has until June 28 to determine whether there are enough valid signatures to trigger a recall election. The panel rejected the first attempt for not having enough.
Vos is being targeted by supporters of former President Donald Trump, including former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who submitted more than 9,000 signatures as of May 28.
They targeted Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, after he refused to impeach the official who oversees the swing state’s elections, angering Trump and his followers.
Vos said Friday he found thousands of invalid signatures, including 2,000 collected outside his current legislative district, more than 400 who signed more than once and nearly 350 that were collected beyond the allowed window.
Vos also alleged that signatures were collected at addresses that did not exist, were vacant or were not residences.
The committee that distributed the petitions insisted they had enough valid petitions to trigger the recall, calling Vos’ challenge “laughable” in a statement. 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 electoral commission determined that only 5,905 of them were valid.
Vos angered Trump and those who falsely believe the former president won Wisconsin in 2020 when Vos refused calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state. Biden’s victory by about 21,000 votes 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 an impeachment plan Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top election official.
The recall is complicated because the new legislative maps take effect in the fall elections.
The elections commission asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify whether any recall election would have to take place in the district where Vos was elected to serve, or under the new district boundaries that will take effect for the regular November election.
The court refused to clarify or change its December decision that found the current maps unconstitutional and banned their future use.
