Wisconsin judge rejects attempt to revive recall targeting key GOP lawmaker

MADISON, Wis. – A judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt to revive the recall effort targeting the longest-serving Wisconsin Assembly speaker in state history, saying signatures were improperly collected under legislative limits now prohibited from being used in any election.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump had targeted the impeachment of Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos 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, 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 recall organizers were unable to submit enough signatures to trigger an election on their first attempt in May. The Wisconsin Elections Commission last month rejected a second attempt to recall a bipartisan vote, also finding that it fell short of the required number of signatures.

Recall organizers appealed the decision to the Dane County Circuit Court on Friday. On Tuesday, Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled that organizers’ attempt to force a vote under old legislative maps violates the state Supreme Court order preventing the use of these limits.

Recall organizers collected signatures for the recall effort from voters in the 63rd Assembly District, which was elected to represent Vos in 2022. But in December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court banned the use of those boundary lines in the future.

The Legislature approved new maps that place Vos in a new 33rd Assembly District.

The elections commission asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify which district boundaries would apply to the recall, but the court refused to weigh.

Recall organizers argued that the election commission should have accepted signatures collected after the 60-day deadline for circulating petitions but before the deadline for submitting petitions.

But Ehlke didn’t even address that issue because he mandated that signatures be collected in the old district.

“Simply put, this court will not order the WEC to do what the Wisconsin Supreme Court prohibits,” Ehlke wrote, referring to the elections commission.

Vos and recall organizers did not respond to requests for comment.