Thursday, October 18, 2012
State elections officials say only 44 service members did not receive ballots in time, but Romney campaign says even one late ballot is too many.
In Wisconsin, 26 municipalities missed the 45-day federal deadline to transmit absentee ballots to military personnel, and the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is suing the state in order to grant an extension for them to be returned. All absentee ballots must be returned by Nov. 9, which is three days after the election. But the Romney campaign wants Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections, to push that date back to Nov. 14. According to the Huffington Post, the Romney campaign first raised its concerns on Oct. 1, but GAB spokesman Reid Magney said the problem was not as serious as the Romney campaign made it seem. Magney pointed out that of the 4,288 military and overseas Wisconsin …
Friday, September 14, 2012
Estimates in February put the cost of recall upwards of $17 million. The real figures are closer to $13 million, which is still a big chunk of change.
The Government Accountability Board issued a press release Friday saying the 2012 recall elections cost taxpayers more than $13 million. Specifically, the statement says the May recall primary ran up a bill of $6.3 million. That figure includes: The June recall general election cost more, coming in at $7.2 million. This amount also accounts for a variety of functions: “Instead of conducting two primaries and two elections this year, Wisconsin election officials will be conducting six elections, which added approximately $13.5 million in unbudgeted costs,” said Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the GAB in the statement. “These unplanned elections also put significant stress on Wisconsin’s clerks, who have many other duties …
Friday, March 30, 2012
A year after Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill became law, recall petitioners have successfully triggered a recall election of Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.
Enough petition signatures have been verified to trigger a recall of Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, state election officials decided Monday. The state Government Accountability Board voted 5-0 to order the recall election. If a primary election is needed, it will be held May 8. The general election date will be June 5. This is the first time in Wisconsin history a governor is up for a recall election. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, there have only been two successful gubernatorial recalls in U.S. history — against California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 and North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier in 1921. Of the 931,053 signatures submitted for the Walker recall, the GAB staff found 900,938 valid signatures. And of 842,854 …
Friday, March 9, 2012
If the request is granted by a judge, a likely recall primary election would be held on May 15, with the general election on June 12.
The state's top election official plans to ask a judge for more time to review the Gov. Scott Walker recall petitions, which would push the date of a possible recall election back to May or June. Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy on Friday recommended the GAB board request an push its deadline back from March 19 to April 6. Kennedy said his staff cannot complete its work on the recall petitions against Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch until at least March 30. If the board moves forward with Kennedy's request at its meeting on Monday, the matter would go before Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess on Wednesday. If Niess grants the extension and the recall election was ordered on the newly proposed deadline, a …
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Government Accountability Board staff, Judge David Deininger, and the Board chairperson decided to release the petitions under Wisconsin law and a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Doe V. Reed.
Update Jan. 31, 2012: Digital copies of the signed petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker have been posted online. The Government Accountability Board announced its decision Tuesday, after earlier saying it may not publish them, due to concerns raised by people who signed the petitions. Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel for the GAB, said all 153,335 pages of PDF copies of the petition will be posted online, but they won't be in a searchable database. GAB staff, Judge David Deininger, and the Board chairperson decided to release the petitions under Wisconsin law and a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Doe V. Reed after a number of people had raised safety concerns. The decision focused on releasing referendum petitions in Washington …
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Kevin Kennedy, director of the GAB, gave a press conference on Tuesday on how they'll count the 1.9 million recall signatures they received. Here's more of the video.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Kevin Kennedy, director of the Government Accountability Board, said they'll verify the signatures in an undisclosed location. Here's how they'll do it.
Mike Shortall
11:33 am on Monday, October 29, 2012
Well, here's a reason why women SHOULD NOT vote for President Obama. He pays lip service to women playing a substantial role in everyday decision making (excluding Hillary and Valerie Jarrett). http://swampland.time.com/2011/09/21/the-white-house-boys-club-president-obama-has-a-woman-problem/ And a reason why women SHOULD vote for Mitt Romney. The women who have worked for and with him know he … more ›