On Tuesday, a split Wisconsin Supreme Court requested arguments on a matter pertaining to the appropriate legislative borders for a possible recall election organized by Trump supporters within two days. Because of his refusal to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin or impeach the state’s top elections official, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos—the top Republican in the state—is the focus of the recall.
Present at Tuesday’s WisPolitics.com luncheon, Vos unleashed a tirade on recall organizers, describing them as “morons” and “whack jobs.” “The organizers are completely disconnected from reality,” Vos remarked. No one from the recall committee was available for comment when contacted.
Last week, they sent in petitions. According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s preliminary assessment, there were insufficient valid signatures from the 2022 district that Vos was chosen to represent. A number of individuals have also reported having their signatures falsified, prompting the district attorney of Racine County to launch an investigation.
A small number of “unverified petitions slipped through due to a volunteer oversight,” according to Monday’s recall organizers, who claimed the error was accidental. Vos must contest signatures no later than Thursday. Among the “a ton of fraud” that Vos claims to have discovered are 400 duplicate signatures, incomplete or misspelled details, and the identities of individuals who did not sign (including his own). According to his prediction, just around 6,000 of the almost 11,000 signatures will be deemed authentic.
The validity of signatures, the number of signatures required, and the location of any recall election should be determined using the parliamentary district boundary lines, however it is unclear what those lines should be. Last Monday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission—a bipartisan body—asked the state Supreme Court to determine the appropriate maps to be utilized in any recall or special election that takes place prior to November in order to alleviate this confusion.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is liberally controlled, threw down the legislative maps from 2022 and banned their use in future elections in December. Democratic Governor Tony Evers signed updated maps into law last month, but they won’t be effective until November. In a 5-2 decision on Tuesday, the court extended the deadline for the redistricting case’s parties to respond to the Elections Commission’s request for clarification until Thursday.
