Wisconsin Democrats hit halfway mark in recall effort against Gov. Walker

Organizers working on a campaign to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch are more than half-way to their goal, they announced Monday.

United Wisconsin, which teamed up with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, has collected 300,000 signed petitions since November 15. They need to collect 540,206 valid signatures in a 60-day period to force a recall election, or roughly 9,000 signatures per day.

“Scott Walker has taken to the airwaves, supported by millions in corporate cash, to defend his record of job loss and full-scale assault on Wisconsin’s institutions and values,” United Wisconsin Executive Director Meagan Mahaffey said. “But all over Wisconsin, the people are seeing through Walker’s deceptions and are moving to take our state back.”

Organizers are aiming to far exceed the state’s signature requirements, just in case they have any duplicates or other issues that could disqualify some signatures. They have collected nearly 1,040 signatures per hour, according to United Wisconsin.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin has responded by dismissing the amount of signatures gathered.

“This recall effort is a baseless power-grab being pushed on Wisconsin families by liberal special interests,” said Republican Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Ben Sparks.

“Despite the Democrats attempts to generate false momentum in their never ending effort to score political points, Wisconsin families are only interested in moving our state forward. We remain focused on Governor Walker’s common-sense reforms that have laid the ground work for economic growth, and our economy only continues to improve.”