Recall elections against Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four state senators will officially be held on May 8 and June 5, after election officials verified enough valid signatures were submitted.
The Government Accountability Board declared at its March 30 meeting organizers gathered 900,208 signatures, 360,000 more than the 540,208 needed to prompt a Walker recall election, and hundreds of thousands more than needed against Kleefisch. Election officials confirmed four other recall efforts against state senators earlier in March.
The announcement ends the review process that began Jan. 17, when Democrats angry with Act 10, which eliminated collective bargaining rights for public employees, and other measures passed by Walker and state Republicans, filed recall petitions against six targeted Republican politicians.
“This is not a task we asked for or relished,” GAB Director Kevin Kennedy said. “But now that these officials have been recalled to stand for election again, it will be up to the people of Wisconsin to settle this political dispute at the ballot box.”
Walker will face Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette or state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma in the June 5 recall election.
Fire-fighter union leader and outspoken Walker critic Mahlon Mitchell will run against Kleefisch.
State Senators Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls, and Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, are also being targeted. Former State Sen. Pam Galloway, R-Wausau, the other senator being targeted, resigned from the body last month for personal reasons.
