Wisconsin's Recall Free-For-All
The Robin Vos recall movement has become one unholy hot mess.
A couple of weeks ago, it looked like the attempt to recall Wisconsin Speaker Robin Vos was dead in the water. Despite the recall organizers boasts that they had 4,000 more signatures they needed, the reality was that they were at least 1,000 signatures short. Vos already had started doing his vindictive victory dance, calling the organizers "morons" and "whack jobs."
Adding to the recall organizers' woes was the fact that there have been allegations that many of the signatures were collected illegally and/or were forged. The Racine County District Attorney is investigating these accusations.
But it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.
The recall organizers filed a petition with the courts to ask for more time to get clarification on whether they should be using the old districts or the newly agreed upon districts. However, this was complicated by the state supreme court already deciding they weren't going to get involved. On top of that, the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) was on a tight timeline and had to decide by April 11 to decide if the recall could go ahead.
On Wednesday, the WEC issued a staff report that found the recall effort fell short. The board itself is scheduled to discuss this report and make a final ruling on Thursday.
But wait! There's more. Even if the WEC rules in favor of Vos, as it is expected to, it's still not over.
This is because shortly after the initial indications were that the recall effort was going to fall short, the recall organizers launched a second recall effort. And this second go around is a doozy:
The recall committee has acknowledged the signatures the group submitted included forgeries but blamed the crime on "sabotage" and unidentified participants "recruiting individuals from outside Wisconsin."
According to the paperwork for the new recall effort, Snorek is seeking to recall Vos over baseless allegations of Vos' "tacit support for the Chinese Communist Party."
Just in case this hasn't been enough foolishness for the gentle reader, don't worry, there is still more. There's always more.
The second recall petitions are due by May 28. That would mean that if this time they are successful, the primary would be in July. However, the fall primary is in August with the general election in November. Can you say election burnout? Oh, and the best part is that the legislature is out of session for the rest of the year. If the recall organizers were smart, they would have just been focusing on the fall elections. But when as a MAGA ever been accused of being smart?
To paraphrase the old saying, to err is human, but to really foul things up, you need a group of Republicans.