Political Hotsheet
By

Leigh Ann Caldwell /

CBS News/ January 17, 2012, 5:57 PM

Organizers submit signatures to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

/ AP Photo/Morry Gash

Angry Wisconsin voters submitted more than one million signed petitions to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker, the organizers of the recall announced Tuesday. The petitions are nearly double the amount needed to force a recall vote.

Organizers say they submitted the boxes of petitions for Walker to the Government Accountability Board Tuesday afternoon.

"The collection of more than one million signatures represents a crystal clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Scott Walker has caused Wisconsin," Ryan Lawler, board member for United Wisconsin, said in a statement.

Protests against Walker's tenure broke out last year after the first-term governor spearheaded a bill to limit the power of teacher and other public sector unions.

The number of signatures required to trigger a recall election for the governor is 540,208, which is 25 percent of the number of votes cast during the 2010 elections. The number of petitions nearly equal the number of people - 1.12 million - who voted for Walker in 2010.

More than enough petitions have also been filed to recall Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. Efforts to recall four Republican members of the state Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, are also underway.

Six recall votes of Wisconsin legislators were held this past summer and two members lost their seats to Democratic challengers, reducing the Republican majority.

The group United Wisconsin says it will continue to target additional members of the legislature for recall.

The petitions must be verified by the state, which could take several months. If there are enough to force a recall election for Walker, Kleefisch and state legislators, elections are expected to take place this summer.


© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
12 Comments Add a Comment
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ge556 says:
It's a great day in Wisconsin. The Great Republican Power Grab is on its way out.
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kbbpll says:
Does that picture scream "clown" or what?
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nearl451 says:
I needed a little happy news today.

Really hit the spot.
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Gimmeafb says:
This just shows that if you get enough unionized public workers to outnumber the rest of the voting public, it's only a matter of time before those not in the union are enslaved by the union workers.
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noloyalisti says:
Walker is owned and run by the greedy billionaire Koch Brothers. He lied to the people of WI, hates American workers and the poor just like the rest of the Republicons.

That is why WI is purging their state of these extremist wackos and we should do that in the entire country now.
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Danize says:
Hope you have a good pair of walkin' shoes, Scott...
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76SpiritOf says:
Its look as though the people have spoken to end the GOP goal of stomping out runaway decency in Wisconsin!
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irreverentasever says:
Walker has picked the pockets of Wisconsinites long enough. He just came back from Texas with his pockets stuffed full of millionares cash. It's time for the Koch brothers to come and pick him up.
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vielmann says:
How did such a cross-eyed idiot get into office anyway?
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kevjustice says:
cool!!!!!
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