Organizers of the second recall effort against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos have turned in enough valid signatures to force a recall, according to Wisconsin Elections Commission staff, but staff members stopped short of recommending that the agency order an election.
According to a more than 200-page staff report ahead of the commission's Thursday meeting, organizers submitted 6,866 valid signatures from Vos' old 63rd Assembly District, narrowly surpassing the 6,850 needed to trigger a recall election.
However, staff also note that questions still linger over which legislative maps should apply to any recall effort, which was launched by Republicans frustrated that Vos, Wisconsin's longest-serving Assembly speaker, refused former president Donald Trump's request to overturn Wisconsin's 2020 presidential election, something the speaker is not empowered to do under state law and the Constitution.
At issue is the Wisconsin Supreme Court's December 2023 ruling that the state's previous legislative maps are unconstitutional, a decision that effectively bars their use even though new maps signed into law earlier this year don't go into effect until November. New maps moved Vos into the state's new 33rd Assembly District.
The commission asked the state Supreme Court for clarification on what legislative boundaries should apply to any recall or special elections held before new maps go into effect, but the state's highest court denied to weigh in on the matter.
The six-member bipartisan commission has until Friday to determine whether Vos can be recalled in his 63rd Assembly District. The commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday.
"If the Commission finds petition sufficient, the Commission would be faced with determining within which district a recall election could be held," staff write in the report.
Staff note that, if a recall is ordered, the vote could be held on Tuesday, August 6, just one week before the August 13 primary.
Vos, R-Rochester, has challenged the recall effort, saying it fails because signatures were collected in the wrong Assembly District. Organizers have contested the recall petitions are valid.
The group in March submitted more than 9,000 signatures seeking to recall Vos, but the elections commission denied the request after determining only 5,905 signatures were valid.
Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson earlier this year said her office had fielded numerous calls about possible identity theft from electors who said their names had fraudulently been added to the first recall petition effort.
Vos did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesd
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