Wisconsin election officials published recall petitions submitted against Gov. Scott Walker online Tuesday, after petitioners’ privacy concerns delayed the initial release date.
The Government Accountability Board, which first received signatures from Democratic recall organizers Jan. 17, postponed the planned Monday release of the petitions after hearing concerns from individuals and the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.
Among complaints was the fact that names and addresses would be made public, including those of petition signers with personal safety concerns, such as victims of domestic abuse.
After reviewing state public records law and rulings of both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the board concluded that the accessibility of petitions and full disclosure of all signers remains paramount.
“Few processes in the electoral system or elsewhere are more public than the signing of recall petitions against state elected officials,” said Kevin Kennedy, the GAB’s director and general counsel, in a statement. “Officeholders and the public have a right to view the petitions, not only for the legal process of filing challenges to signatures, but to help ensure the transparency and accountability of the petition review process, and of Wisconsin’s electoral system.”
The names and addresses of petition signees have been posted to an online database, which the GAB has made unsearchable for individual signatures. The petitions are organized online by election.
Organizers needed 540,208 signatures to prompt a recall election of Walker, as well as one of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. Democratic petition organizers claimed to have submitted upwards of 1 million signatures for Walker and roughly 845,000 for Kleefisch.
Signatures submitted for the recall of four Republican state senators were posted online Jan. 11.
On Jan. 25, a Dane County judge awarded the GAB more time to certify recall positions, a 61-day period ending March 19.
From the date of receiving their petitions, Walker and Kleefisch have 30 days to review them. Senators Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, Pam Galloway, R-Wasau, Terry Molton, R-Chippewa Falls, and Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, were given 10 days to review their respective petitions.
