Sunday, March 31, 2024
Friday, March 29, 2024
Group seeking to recall Speaker Robin Vos launches second effort
After their first attempt appears to have failed due to an apparent lack of valid signatures and allegations of fraud, supporters of former President Donald Trump have launched a second attempt to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
Matthew Snorek, a leader of the recall effort, on Wednesday filed paperwork with the Wisconsin Elections Commission indicating his intent to circulate new petitions to recall the long-standing speaker. Snorek created a new recall committee for the effort, and petitions containing signatures will be due no later than May 28.
It remains unclear how the new effort would differ from the first one, which was launched in January by Republicans angry that Vos, R-Rochester, had refused former president Donald Trump’s request to overturn the 2020 presidential election, something the speaker cannot do.
A preliminary review by elections commission staff earlier this month found the group’s first attempt appeared to have fallen short of the required number of signatures needed to force a recall election.
In his statement of intent for the second recall, Snorek wrote that Vos should be recalled for several reasons, including his “lack of commitment to election integrity” and his “flagrant disrespect for his own constituents by calling them ‘whack-jobs, morons and idiots,’” in reference to comments Vos made in Madison last week about the people behind the initial recall attempt.
Vos and Snorek did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The new effort comes amid ongoing questions surrounding Snorek’s first recall petitions, which were handed over to the elections commission earlier this month.
While members of the group said they submitted more than 10,000 signatures, commission staff said a preliminary review found just over 9,000 were potentially valid across multiple legislative districts. The review also found the effort appears to have fallen more than 900 signatures short of the 6,850 needed in Vos’ old district to force an election.
It’s also unclear which legislative boundaries would apply after the Wisconsin Supreme Court in December ruled the state’s previous legislative maps are unconstitutional, barring their use in any subsequent election.
Vos was elected in the 63rd Assembly District, but new maps signed earlier this year by Gov. Tony Evers place Vos in the new 33rd Assembly District. Some of Vos’ previous territory also falls in the new 66th Assembly District
In his challenge, Vos argues a recall can only take place in the new 33rd Assembly District.
New maps signed into law earlier this year don’t go into effect until November, though the elections commission has asked the state’s high court to clarify which boundaries apply to elections held before then.
After Evers requested an additional week to try to reach consensus with all parties in the case on what boundaries should be used, Assistant Attorney General Faye Hipsman wrote in a Thursday court filing the parties couldn’t reach an agreement, but urged the court to use the state’s new maps.
The recall group had until Thursday to respond to Vos’ challenge to the petitions, but instead filed a request in Dane County Circuit Court on Monday seeking an extension to the challenge period, citing “ongoing uncertainties surrounding the legislative district boundaries which are crucial for the analysis of the petition.” A status conference on the matter has been scheduled for Friday.
A Thursday statement from the new recall committee notes that the first recall effort has not been withdrawn and organizers await a court decision on legislative boundaries. The group claims the first effort was “fraught with unexpected challenges” and the new committee will implement “stringent quality control measures.”
Vos claimed in his challenge of the first recall effort that petitions were “plagued with fraud and criminality,” citing forged signatures and missing or incomplete signee information. The Racine County District Attorney’s office is investigating the matter.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Monday, March 25, 2024
Friday, March 22, 2024
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
'Whack jobs' and 'morons': Robin Vos rails at organizers of recall effort
MADISON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says his campaign has identified "a huge number" of potential forgeries among the signatures gathered by organizers of a recall effort against him — a group of detractors he described Tuesday as "whack jobs" and "morons."
Vos said Tuesday his campaign in recent days hired a private investigator and assembled dozens of volunteers to comb through the hundreds of pages of petition documents submitted by a group of Donald Trump supporters seeking to recall Vos over his unwillingness to grant the former president's requests to undo Wisconsin's 2020 election.
The campaign has found forged signatures and felons working for the recall campaign, Vos said.
"In Wisconsin, if you're a felon, you're not allowed to circulate. Well, they brought in people from out of state who are felons!" Vos told reporters following an event in Madison hosted by Wispolitics.com.
Recall organizers earlier this month submitted to the Wisconsin Elections Commission more than 10,000 signatures — nearly 4,000 more than required. But last week, 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.
At the same time, Racine County prosecutors began receiving reports of area residents who did not agree to sign the petitions finding their names on the documents anyway. Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson told WISN 12 her office is investigating 27 complaints alleging forged signatures.
On Monday, the recall committee in a statement acknowledged the signatures the group submitted included forgeries but blamed the crime on "sabotage" and unidentified participants "recruiting individuals from outside Wisconsin."
"While the orchestrator remains unidentified, we are dedicated to uncovering the truth in collaboration with law enforcement," the group said in the statement. A spokesman for the committee did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Vos has until Thursday to challenge the signatures submitted by the Recall Vos committee. He said Tuesday he expects to show up to 400 are duplicates along with "a ton of fraud," including affidavits from Racine County residents who say they were lied to about what petition they were signing.
He said the recall organizers represent a fringe segment of the Republican Party, describing them as "whack jobs."
"The challenge that we have is the people who organized this are so out of touch with reality," Vos said. "And I'm just going to keep saying it over and over again − they are morons. They are stupid."
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Monday, March 11, 2024
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Wait trial pushed back, files motion to dismiss
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Harry Wait of Union Grove faces two counts of election fraud and two counts of unauthorized use of another person's identifying information for his alleged role in requesting false absentee ballots in July 2022. |
RACINE — The trial for Harry Wait was taken off the calendar after the defense filed motions to dismiss the charges against him — two counts of unauthorized use of an individual’s personal identifying information and two counts of election fraud.
Wait is accused of ordering absentee ballots in July 2022 through the My Vote Wisconsin website using the names of Racine Mayor Cory Mason and Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
Wait reportedly admitted to ordering the ballots to expose vulnerabilities in the absentee voting system. He pleaded not guilty to all charges Oct. 21, 2022.
Wait was scheduled to go to trial March 19, but the date has been removed to allow the defense and prosecution time to address the motions.
Motions
The defense filed two motions to dismiss the case Feb. 29, alleging the charges against Wait are unconstitutional, infringe on constitutional rights and lack probable cause.
One motion claims that the election fraud charge infringes on the right to vote because it “imposes substantial penalties on voters” who make false statements.
The motion states the charge has a chilling effect, meaning it will deter people from voting in fear of making false statements and being penalized.
The second motion claims that the complaint filed in the case had “reckless and materially misleading statements” and lacked probable cause for the unauthorized use of an individual’s personal identifying information charges.
The complaint alleges Wait claimed to have successfully ordered the absentee ballots to be shipped to his address, and that he was ready to be charged for “exposing these voting vulnerabilities.”
The motion claims that Village of Rochester Clerk Sandi Swan and City of Racine Clerk Tara McMenamin deactivated the ballot requests he submitted. One ballot was sent, but was deactivated before it was received, according to an interview with McMenamin attached to the motion.
The motion claims that even if Wait did admit to ordering the ballots, it does not matter because they were inactive, therefore no crime was committed.
“No matter what the Defendant admitted about his conduct, he never got those active absentee ballots and he never will,” the motion states.
During a status conference Friday, the defense was given until April 19 to file an opening brief. The state will have until June 21 to file a response, and the defense will have until July 12 to file a rebuttal.
Wait is scheduled to appear in court again Aug. 16 for an evidentiary hearing.
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