Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is facing a recall effort by supporters of former President Donald Trump, including former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, is being targeted for his refusal to impeach the official who oversees the state’s elections. Vos challenged the validity of the signatures on the petition, claiming there were not enough valid ones to trigger a recall election. The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission has until June 28 to determine the validity of the signatures.
The committee that circulated the petitions insisted that they had enough valid signatures to trigger the recall, despite Vos’ challenge. They need 6,850 valid signatures to force a recall election in the district where Vos was elected to serve. This recall effort comes after Vos angered Trump supporters by refusing calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state, despite false claims by some that Trump won Wisconsin in 2020. Vos also faced backlash for not supporting a plan to impeach Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top elections official.
The recall effort against Vos is further complicated by the fact that new legislative maps will go into effect for the fall election. The elections commission asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify whether any recall election should take place in the district where Vos was elected to serve, or under the new district boundary lines that will be in effect for the regular November election. However, the court declined to further clarify or amend its ruling from December, which found the current maps to be unconstitutional and barred their future use.
Vos alleged that the signatures on the petition were not valid, including 2,000 collected from outside his current legislative district, more than 400 who signed multiple times, and nearly 350 that were collected beyond the allowable window. He also claimed that some signatures were gathered at addresses that did not exist, were vacant, or were not actual residences. The elections commission will need to review the validity of the signatures before making a decision on whether to proceed with a recall election against Vos.
The recall effort against Vos highlights the ongoing political divisions in Wisconsin and the broader national debate over the integrity of elections. Vos, a prominent Republican figure in the state, is caught between the demands of Trump supporters and the need to uphold the state’s election processes. The outcome of the recall effort could have implications for Vos’ political future and the direction of politics in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s decision on the validity of the signatures will be a key factor in determining the next steps in the recall process.
