Will Wisconsin have a recall election like California did?

Progressives are now openly discussing a plan to recall as many as eight of the Republican state senators in Wisconsin. If successful, the progressive movement could kick many Republican state senators out of office within a little as three months, though the effort to gain the necessary signatures would likely take longer. There are currently 19 Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate and 14 Democrats. All 14 Democratic state senators have left the state to prevent a vote a quorum and a subsequent vote on Governor Scott Walker's (R) anti-union bill. The numbers simply do not favor the protesters in Madison at this point, but a recall election could change those numbers. The larger question is whether Democrats can successfully hold out until a recall election could be held.

Wisconsin is one of many states that establish a process for the state's elected representatives to be "recalled" by the public. The relevant provisions are contained in Chapter 9, Section 10 of the Wisconsin Code. Unfortunately for the protesters, Wisconsin law requires that an elected representative be in office one year before a petition for recall can be submitted. Governor Walker just took office this January, meaning he is exempt from any recall until next January. However, as Think Progress documents, there are eight Republican state senators who are eligible for recall based on the one-year requirement. A successful recall of just three Republican state senators would give Democrats a majority in the chamber.

A recall effort would also require a massive signature-gathering campaign. According to Wisconsin law the petition for recall must contain signatures totaling "at least 25% of the vote cast for the office of governor at the last election within the same district or territory as that of the officeholder being recalled." After the petition is filed the elected representative has a right to challenge the legitimacy of the document. Within 31 days of the petition's filling the "official with whom the petition is offered for filing shall determine by careful examination whether the petition on its face is sufficient and so state in a certificate attached to the petition." If the petition is deemed sufficient then a recall election would be held six weeks later. The elected representative being "recalled" could still run in the recall election.

All of this may seem like a stretch, but state recall efforts have been successful in the past, particularly when an energized constituency like the unions take part in obtaining the necessary signatures quickly. Perhaps the most famous recall election took place in California in 2003, when Governor Gray Davis (D) was recalled and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was elected in his place.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Protesters call for the recall of Wisconsin's Republican state senators (Video) - National Political Buzz | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/political-b...republican-state-senators-video#ixzz1EXQ5STA1

 

Perhaps we should just recall the dumbo administration.

Leftists love the idea of free elections until the results don't suit them.

 

All you hear on the News is angry civil servants and teachers, I wonder how the rest (majority) of Wisconsin's citizens feel about the law?

 

After their "absent ploy" maybe the 14 democratic senators should be recalled?

 

Is there a provision in the Constitution for a voter recall of the president?

Nope.

You could try another failed impeachment process...that worked out so well last time, didn't it?

In California, it wasn't the leftists that pushed for a recall of a freely elected Grey Davis...so your argument doesn't wash, at least if you want to present consistency of an argument.

 

It would be better if they were jailed and sent a bill for their incarceration.

 

The provisions are there, the system is in place with equal opportunity for either side.

I have no problem with our system of government, and liberals and conservatives primary problem is their views on our system of government not being followed the way each side thinks it should be followed.

I know it looks like a circus to outsiders, but what we are seeing is just the process of government and the people doing what they should be doing in times of confusion.

Working through the system.

The system will continue to work as long as we hold to the system as being the highest virtue.

What is disturbing is when extremist thinkers left or right announce that they are self righteously above the system, and no longer need to work within the system.

As long as we work within our system, it will all work out in the long run, though we may swing back and forth violently (without violence is my hope) during this turbulent time.

 

You don't really like our system of government, do you?

Shame, perhaps there is a country for you out there that does have a system of government and a process that agrees with your agenda...

 

If anybody is to be recalled it should be the elected officials who refused to do their elected jobs and ran away to stop the functioning of the legislature.

 

That's an option. The republicans can try...see how it goes. That's our system, shared success, shared responsibility along with shared sacrifice, they go hand in hand.

By the way, California now has a democratic governor...after the huge success of a republican governor's term ended...and another republican spent $160 million to get elected...so voters do swing from one side to the other...and Wisconsin has been mostly democratic for many years...we will see if there is truly a change of heart in Wisconsin that lasts, or if this is just another phase that states go through during times of political turbulence...