Dems Catch A Break In Wisconsin Recall Signatures Law Suit

An appeals court in Wisconsin on Friday ordered a judge in conservative Waukesha County to vacate his ruling and rehear the arguments of a lawsuit filed by the state Republicans about the procedures for counting signatures in the recall effort. The big issue: That the judge had refused to allow Democratic recall organizers to get involved in the case and make arguments.

This means that Democrats are getting another bite at the apple on this matter — depending on the outcome of the additional litigation, state election officials may not have to spend as much additional time reviewing the signatures, which would further delay the election. (However, officials at the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections, did tell the Wisconsin State Journal that they will still continue to strike out “obviously fictitious” names.)

“To summarize, the recall committees have an interest in the complaint’s proposed relief,” the three-judge panel wrote unanimously on the Democrats’ appeal, “because such relief may include new procedures not required by law that may result in (1) striking valid signatures and placing an increased burden on the committees at a later stage of the review process and (2) causing delay to the recall process.”

A month ago, the Waukesha County judge had ruled that the Government Accountability Board must make a greater effort to screen out duplicate or fake petition signatures — rather than abide by the pre-existing rules, which had placed the burden mainly on the elected officials targeted for recall.

Previously, the judge had ruled against the Dems’ motion to intervene, which meant that the arguments were then conducted exclusively between the state GOP and the election board’s attorney. It is this decision that has formed the main basis of this appeal.