Robin Vos recall organizers fail to submit enough valid signatures, initial review finds

MADISON - Organizers of a recall attempt against Wisconsin's longest-serving Assembly Speaker failed to gather enough signatures in the district he was last elected in to trigger a recall election, according to an initial review by the state elections commission.

The signatures are now under scrutiny as the elections commission and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and his allies investigate each signature to determine how many are valid. At least one Racine County resident said Tuesday his name was illegally forged on the recall petition and has contacted the local district attorney's office.

Supporters of former President and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump are seeking to oust Assembly Speaker Robin Vos over his criticism of Trump and his unwillingness to break the law and undo the 2020 Wisconsin presidential election.

Recall organizer Matthew Snorek said Monday his group was submitting more than 10,000 signatures — nearly 4,000 more than required. But on Tuesday, Wisconsin Elections Commission staff determined the recall organizers did not obtain enough signatures from residents in the district Vos was elected in when the recall began, falling about 945 signatures short.

But the state's legislative maps have changed since then, and those new boundaries may complicate the final counting of signatures. The recall petition filing comes days after the state Supreme Court declined to weigh in on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' request to clarify whether the state's new legislative districts apply to elections held before November, leaving potential questions about how election officials will address the proposed recall.

Elections Commission staff plan to conduct a second review of signatures and will determine how many valid signatures are present under the old and new electoral maps. Commissioners on Tuesday during a special elections commission meeting also voted to ask Attorney General Josh Kaul to seek clarification from the state Supreme Court on which district boundaries to use when determining whether the recall organizers gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall election.

Snorek and Vos did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sam Wahlen, a Republican who lives in Yorkville, said Tuesday his name appears illegally on the recall petition.

"Today, I called the DA and started the process of going after those who attempted to steal my identity. Shame on them," he posted on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter. "These Vos recall people are determined that 2020 was stolen but now want to steal our election for us by forcing a recall of our successful candidate."

Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wisconsin Elections Commission chairman Don Millis said Tuesday during the elections commission special meeting that WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe decided to stay out of the process of counting signatures given the group's intense focus on Wolfe over the 2020 election.

Vos, who has been speaker for 10 years and represented the southeastern Wisconsin 63rd Assembly District since 2005, is the most effective Republican in the GOP-controlled state Legislature but has faced fierce criticism from members of his own party ? especially from Trump ? in recent years over his rejection of calls to decertify the 2020 election, which has been impossible as long as supporters of Trump have called for the idea.

The attempt to recall Vos came after a Racine County-based group focused on 2020 election conspiracies ran television ads threatening to unseat the speaker if he did not advance articles of impeachment against Wolfe — an effort Vos has blocked.

Molly Beck can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Signatures to force Robin Vos recall fall short, initial review shows