The first recall petition this year against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has failed to secure enough valid signatures to force an election, Wisconsin Elections Commission staff concluded.
After the state’s previous legislative maps were ruled unconstitutional late last year by the state Supreme Court, and with new maps not set to go into effect until November, agency staff counted signatures in three possible districts in which the recall might be held: Vos’ old 63rd Assembly District, the new 33rd District where he now resides, and the 66th District, where some of Vos’ previous territory now falls.
A staff memo recommends the commission find the petition “insufficient regarding all three districts.”
Recall elections are triggered if petitions are signed by enough qualified electors — equal to at least 25% of votes cast in the previous governor’s election — living within the recalled lawmaker’s district.
Commission staff determined organizers failed to secure enough valid signatures in both the old 63rd District and the new 33rd District. While enough signatures were collected in the new 66th District, staff note that Vos was neither elected to that new district nor lives in it.
According to staff, petitioners needed to secure at least 6,850 valid signatures in the old 63rd District, 7,195 in the new 33rd District and 5,270 in the new 66th District. The final tally of valid signatures came in at 4,989 , 3,053 and 5,472 , respectively, according to the staff memo.
The bipartisan elections commission is scheduled to meet Thursday to make a final determination on the petition.
Recall leader Matthew Snorek last month filed paperwork indicating his intent to circulate new petitions to recall the long-standing speaker. Snorek created a new recall committee for the effort, and petitions containing signatures will be due no later than May 28.
The recall effort was launched in January by Republicans angry that Vos, R-Rochester, had refused former President Donald Trump’s request to overturn the 2020 presidential election, something the speaker cannot do.
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