Under state law, the GAB initially had 31 days to determine if enough valid signatures were submitted to force a recall. However, with 1. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess granted the extension on January 25, giving the board an additional 30 days and a deadline of March The state purchased software from Artsyl Technologies to help with the process. Workers scanned the petitions into computers and the software read the names and converted them into type.
A human operator verified each name, correcting any errors before it was entered into a database. The database could then be used to check for duplicate signatures. The petitions were processed in a secret location, but a webcam was set up to provide a live feed of the work. Under state law, Walker had only 10 days to challenge the validity of the petitions starting on January However, as GAB officials were not able to readily provide Walker with the signatures against him, Judge Niess extended the period to 30 days from when Walker received the full petitions.
This decision gave Walker until February 27 to file a challenge. The GAB delivered the petitions to Walker on January 27 and the day window to challenge began the next day.
On February 13, Walker's campaign said they would be unable to evaluate the signatures in time and asked the court for another two weeks. The court filing stated, "The time needed to search for duplicates, as well as to provide a factual basis for objections to more than , signatures, cannot be met within the existing time limits. Walker asked the GAB to review a challenge of the signatures conducted by two tea party groups; however, GAB officials said state law did not allow them to consider challenges by third parties.
GAB spokesman Reid Magney did say they would look at such challenges "for any potential fraud they uncover. But we cannot consider it as a challenge under state law. The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board GAB had originally announced it would post the scanned petitions to its website on January 30, but delayed that action after hearing concerns from a stalking victim and others who did not want their names released.
In the past, the GAB had treated petitions as public records. Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council , said the GAB should simply block the names of people with genuine safety concerns, such as victims of domestic violence, from the public, rather than blocking all the signatures. Van Hollen found that, although they ran on the same ticket, a recall targeting the governor would not automatically include the lieutenant governor.
In order to recall both officials, separate petitions would have to be submitted, with separate recall elections held. Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate said they still planned to target both. The lawsuit asked that a judge require the GAB to search for and strike duplicate signatures, fake names and illegible addresses.
Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state Republican Party, stated, "The decision of one individual who chooses to sign a recall petition should not carry more weight than the decision of another who chooses not to sign. This lawsuit seeks to protect the Wisconsin electors whose voices have been trumped by those purposefully signing multiple petitions. The GAB typically reviews signatures to ensure there are enough to trigger a recall and verify they include a Wisconsin address and are dated during the recall period.
It is up to challengers to point out potential issues with signatures. Rebecca Kleefisch and three Republican state senators, filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the suit.
They argued that the suit was designed to create uncertainty, disruptions and expenses in the recall process. Davis issued a ruling on January 5, , stating that GAB must take "reasonable" actions to eliminate duplicate and illegal signatures from recall petitions. However, he gave them discretion to decide how to achieve that, noting that requiring such action "is limited by the resources and ability they have or are reasonably able to obtain.
On February 3, the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Madison overturned the ruling that denied recall organizers from joining the suit, stating that they had a valid interest to join.
The ruling also threw out Judge Davis' decision that the GAB had to actively seek to strike fake and duplicate signatures. The case then went back to Davis. PolitiFact said Kleefisch provided no evidence for the second half of her claim -- that money would be used from funds already designated for school or health care. Maslin credited Evers for striking the right tone throughout the race.
He said Evers came across as Mr. But Republicans say Walker's loss was more reflective of the national environment and less about Walker — after all, Walker had survived three votes before If Walker's bid for a third term had been successful, he would have been the only Wisconsin governor other than Thompson to be elected to a four-year term three times. Thompson said his recipe for securing a third term included firing up his Republican base early and spending the last year of the term to win over independents and Democrats.
In a recent memo analyzing the election results, Republican Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Mark Morgan acknowledged the Democratic base was energized. Roth said despite having a good story to tell about the state's economy, Republicans struggled to find their footing as health care became a central issue to the race.
He said the party got "crosswise" on the issue of health care, by standing by their longstanding message of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, but now also saying they wanted to preserve part of it. The issue of education gave Evers an advantage, by nature of his day job as state schools chief and also because Democrats are more likely to support increased funding for schools than Republicans.
Voters likely were left with the impression that Republicans probably can't outspend Democrats on schools, Roth said. Evers got in the race in August after being encouraged to do so by former U.
Herb Kohl and Chuck Pruitt, a director of A. Data Group and a former University of Wisconsin System regent. It was four months after Evers won a third term as schools superintendent. At that point, two other Democrats were already in the race and within months there would be eight. After the primary, A Stronger Wisconsin, a new group formed by the Democratic Governors Association, immediately began running ads to attack Walker and combat TV spots being run against Evers.
In the weeks following the primary, Republicans firebombed Evers with ads — many of them graphic — about Evers not revoking the teaching license of a Middleton teacher who had viewed pornographic material at school. They followed them with spots that contended Evers would release dangerous prisoners. That path to victory will likely be even easier for Newsom to follow in the California of , where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one.
The anti-recall side has an even bigger advantage among likely voters, It was only with his run for president that Walker faltered — his campaign unraveled within a few months and he lost his bid for a third term as Wisconsin governor in He and other California political experts see few similarities, other than geography, between the Davis recall and the one targeting Newsom. For one, none of the Republican candidates who say they will challenge Newsom have the game-changing celebrity status of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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