MADISON, Wis. — Organizers of the effort to recall a leading Wisconsin Republican have appealed the rejection by the bipartisan state election commission of their petitions to the court.
Recall organizers filed their appeal in Dane County Superior Court on Friday, a week after their attempt to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos failed after officials determined not enough valid signatures had been collected.
It is now up to the judge to decide whether the organizers have filed their objections. sufficient valid signatures in time to force a recall election. If successful, Vos would only be removed from office for the remainder of the calendar year. He would run for a new two-year term that would begin in January if he wins the November election.
The Election Commission ruled that signatures collected after the 60-day circulation period would not count. The filing deadline was extended two days because of the Memorial Day holiday, but the commission said the deadline for collecting signatures was not also extended.
188 signatures collected in those two days were rejected, meaning the recall election organizers were unable to secure the required number of signatures.
Organizers of the recall campaign argued in their appeal that the commission was “fundamentally wrong” in its finding. The extension of time for filing includes an extension of time to collect signatures, they argued in their appeal.
Fox, who has ridiculed the recall organizers as “madmen and idiots,” did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
If the court agrees to a recall election, a candidate must come forward to challenge Vos. The election would then decide whether Vos would remain for the remainder of the year or be replaced.
Matthew Snorek, the organizer of the recall, defended the decision to move forward with the recall, despite Vos nearing the end of his term, saying it would send a message.
Recall organizers targeted Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, after he refused to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow victory over former President Donald Trump in the state. Biden’s victory by about 21,000 votes has withstood two partial recounts, lawsuits, an independent audit and a review by a conservative law firm.
Fox further angered Trump supporters when he did not support a plan for impeachment Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top elections official.
