(The Center Square) – Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will not face a recall election after the Wisconsin Elections Commission threw out more than a hundred signatures on a petition.
The WEC voted 4-2 on Thursday afternoon to reject the Vos recall petition after it found the number of signatures submitted by the deadline insufficient. Commission staff had recommended Wednesday the commission accept the petition signatures.
“After careful examination of all signatures submitted under the petition to recall Representative Vos, and after reviewing the challenge, rebuttal and replies described in the staff memo and within the appendixes, the commission finds that the petition contains no more than 6,678 valid signatures from 2022 Assembly District 63, and no more than 3,807 valid signatures from 2024 Assembly District 33,” the commission motion read.
Commissioner Don Millis voted to reject the petition, arguing that according to state law, the commission should throw out 188 signatures contested by Vos.
“We have a very specific statute that says signatures can’t be counted after the period in the statute – that’s the 60th day after registration…signatures collected after that period don’t count,” Millis said.
Commissioner Mark Thomsen voted to allow the recall, saying that Wisconsin’s state constitution grants citizens the right to recall a candidate and technicalities should not overrule that right.
“I think the recall is a waste of time and waste of money, but there is a constitutional right for these folks; and for us to say we are going to throw the sufficiency out now on this technical rule is going to be a farce,” Thomsen said.
The Constitutional Conservatives for the Recall of Robin Vos had previously tried to submit a petition in April, which the WEC rejected. The recall committee accused the speaker of risking state sovereignty and security, not acting forcefully enough on election integrity measures, sacrificing Republican interests when handling the legislative redistricting maps, and generally disrespecting constitutional law.
Vos repeatedly denied the allegations.
