Wisconsin Democrats petition for Gov. Walker recall election

Wisconsin Democrats have until the end of Tuesday to submit enough signatures in order to force Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who just started his first term, into a recall election, CNN reported.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party needs at least 540,208 signatures for a recall election.

A push for Walker to have a recall election started two months ago, when the governor ended nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public workers, immediately becoming unpopular among labor unions and public school teachers, the Associated Press reported.

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If enough signatures are gathered on Tuesday, it would mark the first time such a recall election has been mounted against any Wisconsin governor. The party is confident it’ll have all the signatures it needs and is even working to exceed the required number, CNN reported.

"We think we are going to hit or exceed 720,000 signatures. I think it's going to be a very impressive number that we hand in beyond any challenge that this election is going to happen," said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tat to CNN. The number of required signatures is important because it is equal to one quarter of the number of votes cast for governor in the previous election.

“An incredible number of Wisconsinites have stood up to be counted and say, ‘We can’t wait for the next election, we absolutely must get Scott Walker out of office right now,’” Tate said, Politico reported.

Organizers across Wisconsin will soon turn in the petitions they collected to the state’s Government Accountability Board. Tate has dismissed any criticism that the Democratic party has failed to show a clear challenger to Walker if there is a recall election, and had said the fact that Democrats have “more than one candidate” actually shows Walker’s weakness, Politico reported.

“There are a couple of good Democrats that I know are taking a look at this race, and this is indicative of how weak Scott Walker is that we may have more than one strong candidate,” Tate said, Politico reported. “This is tremendously significant — it’s something that’s never happened before in Wisconsin history. It is a very high bar to hold a recall election.”

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