Formal recall efforts in Wisconsin have begun against Republican state Senators. Now what happens?
The targets
Cribbing some vital statistics from David Nir, here are the six Republican state Senators who are both eligible for recall and vulnerable to defeat:
Obama won all of these districts, so we can win them all again. With Republicans controlling the state Senate 19-14, we need to defeat at least three of these Senators. We also must hold all seats currently occupied by Democrats, since conservatives are mounting some recall campaigns.
The process
The first step in making the recalls happen is to gather enough signatures from registered voters in each district to force a recall election. The minimum number of signatures needed in the six key districts are listed in the graphic above. Significantly more than the minimum signatures will need to be filed, as many will be challenged.
According to the official Wisconsin recall procedures, the petitions "to recall any officeholder must be filed no later than 5:00 p.m. on the 60th day after registration." While the official paperwork was completed at various days during this week, roughly speaking that means a deadline of 5 p.m. central time on Monday, May 2nd. It would be better if the petitions were filed several days before that deadline.
After the petition is submitted, a certification process of up to six weeks begins:
Within 31 days after the petition (with signatures) is submitted to the filing officer, he or she has 31 days to determine the sufficiency of the petition and also that it meets all necessary requirements. Following this review, the filing officer must attach to the petition either a certificate of sufficiency or of insufficiency, allowing at least 10 days for the officeholder being recalled to file any challenge.
After certification, an election period of six or ten weeks commences, depending both on whether there is a primary and what happens in that primary:
- The recall election is held on the Tuesday of the 6th week after the recall petition is certified.
- If a primary is required, the primary is held on Tuesday of the 6th week after the recall petition is certified, and the recall election is held on Tuesday of the 4th week after the primary election.
More on the primaries:
A recall primary will be held in nonpartisan recall elections if more than two candidates compete for an office.
- The names of the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes in the recall primary will be certified and printed on the ballot for the recall election.
- A recall election will not be held if a candidate receives a majority (50% plus 1) of the votes at the recall primary.
This process could take a long time--up to 60 days to file the petitions, followed by up to 41 days to certify those petitions, and then up to ten weeks to hold the elections after certification. Potentially, that is nearly six months, so buckle up for the long haul.
Our task
In the short-term, our task is simple: gather the signatures required to file the petitions in the districts listed above. At Daily Kos, we are helping out in two ways. You can join in both:
Email friends in Wisconsin
This morning, we sent an action alert to the 2,500 Wisconsinites on our email list. We asked them to sign up with SEIU to receive information on how to sign a recall petition and volunteer for the campaign. It's getting as positive a response as any email I have ever sent.
You can join in this effort by emailing anyone you know in Wisconsin. I have created a page where you can do so here.
Facebook ads in Wisconsin
For the past week, we have been running Facebook ads in Wisconsin linking to this video. The ads performed very well, leading to over 10,000 views of the video in Wisconsin, thus helping to show the real face of the protesters and counter Fox News propaganda. Not a bad deal for $900!
Last night, I changed the ads to become sign up calls for the recall campaign. You can see one variation of those ads on the left.
Daily Kos still has about $1,000 remaining from the money you raised to run these Facebook ads. We are signing up a new volunteers at a rate of $1.40 each, so if you can spare $7 we can sign up five new volunteers. Please, sign up some more volunteers by donating to Daily Kos on Orange to Blue.
In summary, this is going to be a long campaign, but it is winnable and there are immediate ways that everyone can help.
--Email friends in Wisconsin, asking them to sign up for the recall campaign.
--Contribute $7 to keep our Facebook ads running.
Let's get moving. On Wisconsin!
