Board seeks more time to review Walker recall petitions

JS Online ^ | 2-19-12 | Patrick Marley and Jason Stein

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Madison - State election officials say they likely will need extra time to review recall signatures even though Gov. Scott Walker has said he will not challenge the petitions against him - a move that would give Walker more time to raise unlimited sums of money.

Meanwhile, Republican legislators groused Wednesday that the Government Accountability Board was not doing a thorough enough analysis of the signatures even as it was asking them for $975,000 to do its work.

"It just seems like they are doing the bare minimum but not enough to instill confidence in the system," said Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.

The accountability board has until March 19 to certify whether enough signatures were submitted to recall Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators. But in its Monday funding request to lawmakers, board Director Kevin Kennedy disclosed he expected to ask a Dane County judge for an extension of that deadline.

Reid Magney, speaking for the accountability board, said he did not know how much more time would be needed. The board will discuss the matter at a meeting March 12.

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Vos, the co-chair of the finance committee, said he was disappointed the board was not going along with a request by Republican lawmakers to create a searchable database of the names and addresses of those who signed the recall petitions. A database the board is creating includes names but not addresses; it is meant to help find any duplicate signatures.

"They clearly are not following the wishes of the Legislature and they do that at their own peril," Vos said.

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