Wisconsin Elections Commission rejects second attempt at Robin Vos recall election

MADISON - A second attempt to recall the Wisconsin state Legislature's most powerful leader has failed.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission on Thursday voted to reject petitions from a Racine County-based group of Donald Trump supporters to trigger a recall of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos by declaring the petitions to have too few valid signatures because a portion were collected beyond the time period allowed under state law.

The commission voted 4-2 in the matter, with Democratic commissioners Mark Thomsen and Ann Jacobs objecting to tossing the effort.

"These folks have been through two (recall) campaigns. They worked very, very hard. They failed the first time. They came back, and now they cross the finish line by 16 votes following the same rules that we applied for (candidate nomination) papers. Why should I ignore that?" Thomsen said.

"This whole state is just going to think this whole thing is rigged to take care of power."

Ultimately, four out of six commissioners voted to approve a motion to reject the effort put forward by Republican commissioner Don Millis, who was appointed to the panel by Vos. The motion rejected another batch of signatures from the petition tallies, which put recall seekers below the required threshold.

Vos did not immediately have a reaction to the commission's action.

“I feel very strongly that any signatures collected on May 27 and May 28 are not valid. I don’t think that we’re denying anyone’s right to recall," Millis said.

The group seeking to recall Vos in a statement posted on the social media platform X said the commission was blocking their right to recall their elected officials.

"The Wisconsin Elections Commission has silenced Racine County!" the group posted. "They 'took the easiest off ramp' and denied our constitutional right to recall Robin Vos, who is shielding (commission administrator) Megan Wolfe, the WEC commissioner, and has appointed multiple WEC chairs who voted against the recall."

Vos has appointed just one chair of the commission, however.

"Despite collecting well over the required signatures, the commission, led by Wolfe, ignored their attorneys’ recommendations to certify the recall petition," the group posted. "Now, more than ever, we must vote out Robin Vos and demand the dismantling of the Wisconsin Elections Commission!"

Wolfe has no vote on the commission and leads the staff that concluded earlier this week that the recall group submitted enough signatures to trigger a recall election but the staff did not answer how the effort could move forward under a state Supreme Court ruling barring such contests under maps redrawn since the recall effort began. It also did not initially include in its tally the number of signatures collected beyond the 60-day window circulators had to gather signatures.

Staff found the group seeking to recall Vos turned in enough signatures from Vos' old Assembly district to trigger a recall election but also recommended leaving it up to the bipartisan panel to decide at their Thursday meeting whether Vos could be recalled from the district he was elected to represent in 2022, a district the state Supreme Court has declared to be part of an unconstitutional electoral map.

Through an attorney, Vos on Thursday argued the committee broke state law by collecting 347 signatures outside of the time period allowed and therefore, the commissioners should not deem those names as valid.

The recall committee said in May it had submitted more than 9,000 signatures, exceeding the required number by about 2,100. Vos challenged the petitions, arguing he identified thousands of invalid signatures through his own review.

Initially, commission staff found the group had submitted 6,866 valid signatures — 16 more than required, according to a memo released by the commission attorneys on Tuesday.

Members of the bipartisan state Elections Commission rejected the group’s first recall effort against Vos in April after commission staff determined the group didn’t gather enough signatures in the correct legislative districts and found petition circulators illegally forged signatures.

The recall efforts are led by a group of Racine County-area supporters of former President Trump who want to oust Vos over his criticism of Trump and his refusal to take up legislative efforts to impeach WEC administrator Meagan Wolfe. The group has espoused conspiracy theories and false claims about the 2020 election in Wisconsin.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman has recently emerged as a spokesman for the effort after being hired by Vos in 2021 to probe the 2020 presidential election. He is now helping lead the recall effort with petitioner Matthew Snorek, a resident of Racine County. In April, Gableman said the first recall was “sabotaged” and “infiltrated by outsiders from New York and Florida,” efforts he said were tied to Vos without evidence.

Recall organizers have criticized Vos for obstructing efforts to impeach Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe after he in January blocked a resolution to launch impeachment proceedings against her.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Elections Commission rejects second attempt at Robin Vos recall election