GOP sues WI election board over Walker signatures

GOP Sues Wisconsin Election Board Over Recall Walker Signatures

The GOP campaign to discredit the recall campaign ups the ante.

This was as predictable as snow at a Green Bay Packers game. The Wisconsin Republican Party has sued the state board that will review the petitions that in all likelihood will prompt a special election next spring to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Last week, Wisconsin Democrats announced they had gathered more than 500,000 signatures midway through the allotted time period. They only need 540,000 to trigger the special recall election and predict they may turn in upwards of 800,000 or more by the mid-January filing deadline.

Wisconsin's GOP, which never complained about the signature certification process before--such as last summer when they tried to oust Democratic state senators after circulating their own petitions--now say there is major defect in state law governing validating signatures. And what is that defect? It seems the targeted elected official, in this case the embattled governor, has 10 days after the petitions are turned in to challenge any suspected signature or possible duplicates from people signing more than one petition.  

Walker's allies see a tidal wave of signatures heading their way and realize there is no way the recall election will be stopped. So they are seeking to discredit the process, in this case by legally attacking the state's election administrators. Fortunately, the state board overseeing all elections in Wisconsin has some legal expertise. It is composed of six retired state judges who have pledged to be non-partisan. And as their executive director, another lawyer has said, the board is doing everything it can under the law to spot and remove duplicates. No wonder Walker's alludes are nervous.  

By Steven Rosenfeld | Sourced from AlterNet