Dane County Judge Richard Niess today granted the Government Accountability Board (GAB) more time to finish its review of recall petitions against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, setting the stage for primary elections on May 8 and general elections on June 5.
The GAB sought and was granted an extension to March 30 to finish its review of petitions.
The agency it has completed the reviews of the recall petitions filed against four GOP state senators and has done everything on the Walker and Kleefisch petitions except its check for duplicate signatures.
The agency says it will be able to finish a “sufficient portion” of those checks in time to be able to decide by March 30 whether recall elections should proceed against Walker and Kleefisch.
The filing also argued it is in the public’s best interest to hold all six elections — if certified — on the same day.
After completing its first two rounds of review, the GAB has counted more than 900,000 signatures submitted in the recall against Walker and 800,000 against Kleefisch. The totals well exceeded the 540,208 needed to trigger an election.
The senators facing recalls are Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), Sen.. Pam Galloway (R-Wausau), Sen. Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls) and Van Wanggaard.(R-Racine).
If primaries are not needed, the general election will be on May 8. If primaries are needed, they will take place May 8, followed by general elections on June 5.
For ongoing coverage of the recalls, visit WisPolitics.com, a media partner of BizTimes.
