Update to the Wisconsin Challenge to the Fraudulent Republican Recall Petitions Against Democrats

I'm waiting to see the Republican requirement for people to produce driver's licenses to a state official before they can sign a recall petition.....

What is surprising is that there is no denial by the Republicans that they did in fact commit some fraud in collecting signatures, or that they misrepresented the purpose of the petitions, or that there were numerous  signatures that were from outside the districts involved or those which lacked an address or signature entirely,or that the organization they hired was far from squeaky clean.  And of course, given the many stories about dead people voting in Chicago elections, the Republicans should address their inclusion of dead people on their recall petitions. You know, to keep all those Republicans honest.


Interestingly, while there is a minor technical challenge to the multiple recall petitions by Democrats OF Republicans, there doesn't appear to be any similar challenges of fraud over the collection of signatures OR the signatures themselves, at least not so far. 
The crux of this challenge will be whether or not the GAB, the entity in WI which has the authority to pass or fail these petitions, will find enough fraud to justify throwing out these petitions entirely.  If that were to happen, the Republican party presumably could claim a do-over and try to get sufficient legitimate signatures on second versions of their recall attempts.

In the interim, while we wait for that, here is excellent coverage by the Chicago Tribune News of what's at issue:

Wisconsin Democrats challenge recall petitions

MADISON, Wis.—

Wisconsin Democrats challenged thousands of signatures Thursday that were collected to recall three Democratic state senators, claiming there were enough instances of fraud in the process that the petitions should be thrown out.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin filed formal challenges with the Government Accountability Board against petitions targeting Sens. Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie, Dave Hansen of Green Bay and Jim Holperin of Conover. The challenges said the board should reject the petitions on the basis of "systematic" fraud during signature collection.

The three senators, along with six Republican senators, were targeted amid the controversy surrounding Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to curtail collective bargaining rights for most public employees. A judge has blocked the law from taking effect.

Jeremy Levinson, an attorney for the state Democratic Party, said his group had nearly 200 written statements from residents in the three targeted districts who said circulators tricked them into signing the petitions. Levinson said many were told the petitions supported the Democratic senators, were to recall Walker or, when targeting American Indian reservations, were in support of "tribal rights."
"If we are really talking about the will of the electorate, we need to know the signatures we are counting represents an actual, living human being who was qualified as an elector in one these districts (and) their intent to hold a recall election," Levinson said. "If we don't know that's what this is, all of this is a sham."

Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, compared the challenges to the current state Supreme Court recount process, calling them "an expensive waste of time."

"Even in the unlikely event their challenges of individuals' signatures will be upheld, they fall far short of what is needed to prevent recall elections," Jefferson said in a written statement. "The three Democrats will stand for election this summer."

However, Democratic spokesman Phil Walzak argued that all signatures collected by out-of-state circulators accused of fraud should be thrown out. If that happens, Democrats claim it could invalidate thousands of signatures across all three districts.

The Democratic challenges also claim that thousands of other signatures should be tossed because the signers lived outside the district or failed to provide their address or signature.

If the Government Accountability Board were to only accept those individual challenges, the recall efforts would depend on the additional signatures that groups collected above the minimum required.

The verified challenge of Hansen, for example, claims 3,735 signatures should be declared ineligible on technical reasons or because the signer is not from the district. If those signatures were invalidated, the petition would still have a cushion of about 1,400 for the petition to be deemed sufficient. Those individual signature challenges do not include signatures that Democrats allege are fraudulent.

Republicans have filed challenges against all petitions targeting GOP senators. In addition to their individual signature challenges, they claim the GAB should throw out the petitions because the recall organizers did not properly register with the state. Attorneys for the recall committees have called the challenges "hypertechnical" and "devoid of merit."
The challenges come as some potential challengers to the targeted senators are stepping forward. Kim Simac, who organized the effort to recall Holperin, announced her candidacy Thursday.

Rep. Sandy Pasch of Whitefish Bay also filed paperwork Thursday to challenge Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and is expected to formally announce her run Friday afternoon. Darling has raised $421,940 in campaign contributions in the last four months, most in anticipation of a recall battle.

Four other candidates have already announced their intention to challenge GOP senators targeted for recall. Most recall elections called by the GAB would likely be held on July 12, barring further legal battles.