MADISON, Wis. – Supporters of former President Donald Trump submitted 16 more valid signatures than needed to force a recall election of Wisconsin’s top elected Republican, depending on the district in which the recall must be conducted, based on a state election commission review released Tuesday.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission will meet Thursday to vote on whether to order a revoke election targeting Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. But the key question for the commission will be whether the signatures to force the recall needed to come from the district Vos was elected to represent in the 2022 election, or whether they should have come from his district created under the new maps in effect for the 2024 election. .
If the old maps are used, petition circulators have gathered enough signatures to force a recall, election commission staff said. If the new maps are used, more than 3,000 signatures will be missing. The team did not take a position on which maps should be used.
The commission’s decision to call the recall election may be appealed to the district court.
Recall organizers targeted Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, after he 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.
Vos, who ridiculed those who targeted him as “crazy and idiots,” said in a statement that he is confident that the petitioners did not gather enough legal signatures and will present that argument to the commission on Thursday.
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 in April it refused to further clarify or amend its December decision that found the current maps unconstitutional and banned their future use.
Vos said the recall effort must be rejected because of the Supreme Court’s order prohibiting any future elections using old district lines. But circulators of the petition said it can proceed because the state constitution allows for the removal of any incumbent.
The election team did not take sides, leaving it up to the bipartisan commission to decide what to do.
If the commission decides to order a recall election, it will be held on August 6. If more than two candidates run in a recall election, the primary will be on August 6, with the recall election on September 3.
The state’s regular fall primary election, where Vos will be on the ballot seeking another two-year term, will be Aug. 13. Even if there is a recall election and Vos loses, he will only be out of office until the end of the year. . He could win the general election and return to office in January. The Legislature is not scheduled to return to session until January.
Trump supporters, including former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, on May 28 submitted more than 9,000 signatures to trigger the recall election.
They needed 6,850 valid signatures to force a recall election in the district where Vos was elected to serve. 6,866 valid signatures were collected in that district.
There needed to be 7,195 from the new Vos district for a recall, but only 3,807 were collected in that one, the election commission report said.
In March, the group submitted more than 9,000 signatures, but the electoral commission determined that only 5,905 of them were valid.
