Racine County DA investigating Trump-backed Vos recall effort

Listen to this article

A recall effort by Trump supporters that targeted Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is under investigation by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office.

The DA’s office is looking into complaints of nearly 30 fraudulent signatures after recall organizers submitted petitions with more than 10,000 signatures to the Wisconsin Elections Commission last week. The Elections Commission’s initial review indicated that not enough valid signatures were submitted to trigger a recall vote against Vos, although they have not released a final decision.

Right-wing organizers sought a recall against Vos, the state’s top Republican, after he refused to impeach Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe or attempt to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win in the state.

At a luncheon Tuesday, Vos said the recall petitions had “a ton of fraud,” including up to 400 duplicated signatures, misspelled and missing information and the names of people — including his own — who, of course, did not sign. Vos has until Thursday to challenge the signatures collected.

Racine County District Attorney Patricia J. Hanson is asking residents who believe their signature was added fraudulently to the petition to contact her office immediately.

During an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Racine County District Attorney’s office said they are in the process of compiling a spreadsheet of all of the fraudulent names gathered to be forwarded to local law enforcement for further review.

Vos said his campaign hired a private investigator to comb through the petitions. The investigation looked for duplications and fraudulent signatures.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Vos called the recall organizers “morons” and “whack jobs.”

A statement from the group organizing the recall admitted “a few unverified petitions slipped through due to a volunteer oversight, a regrettable yet isolated incident.”

If any crimes were committed, the statement said it was because of “sabotage” from unknown participants “recruiting individuals from outside Wisconsin.”

Complicating the matter further, also at issue is where the signatures were gathered.  Vos was elected from the 63^rd district but under new legislative maps signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers earlier this year, that district is split into the new 33^rd and 66^th districts. Vos lives in the new 33^rd district.

The Elections Commission asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court last week which legislative boundaries should be in place if a recall election or special election occurs in 2024. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court asked for arguments within two days related to which boundaries should be used if the recall effort moves forward.

Steve Schuster and The Associated Press contributed to this report.