Arizona: Brewer calls Nov. 8 recall election for Pearce | Arizona Republic

Barring a legal challenge, Senate President Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, will face recall election on Nov. 8.

Pearce, one of the state’s most powerful and controversial politicians, released a statement late Tuesday afternoon saying that he told Gov. Jan Brewer that he was in support of her calling the election this fall. It is believed to be the first recall election of a state legislator in Arizona history.

Pearce made it clear in his statement that he has no intention of resigning his office, as some of his detractors have suggested.

Arizona: Architect of Arizona “Papers Please” Immigration Law to Face Recall Election | AllGov

Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, sponsor of the nation’s most controversial anti-immigration law, has become the first legislator in his state’s history to face a recall election.

Pearce was the author of SB 1070, Arizona’s law requiring law enforcement to pull over any motorist suspected of being an illegal immigrant and demand proof of legal residency or citizenship. It was signed into law in April 2010 by Governor Jan Brewer.

Wisconsin: Recall Primaries: Real vs. ‘fake’ Democrats will cost taxpayers more than $475,000 | UPI.com

Wisconsin’s divisive law ending most public-sector collective bargaining set in motion the biggest lawmaker-recall vote in state history, officials said.

Nine recall elections — beginning Tuesday with primaries in six state Senate districts — is “nothing like anyone in Wisconsin or, for that matter, the nation, has seen,” state Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney told The Wall Street Journal.

And unlike in most states, Democratic challengers to six targeted Republican lawmakers are opposed by six Republicans running as Democrats — under Wisconsin’s open-primary system, which lets anyone of any party run in any primary.

Wisconsin: Fake Democrats run in Wisconsin primaries for recall elections | chicagotribune.com

Primary elections in six Wisconsin Senate races Tuesday pitted fake Democrats against candidates supported by the party, with the winners advancing to take on Republican incumbents targeted for recall.

The state Republican Party orchestrated the placement of the fake Democrats on the ballot, thereby delaying the general election until Aug. 9 and giving the incumbents an additional month to campaign.

Tuesday’s primaries marked the first of four elections over the next five weeks related to the targeting of nine senators for recall based on their actions related to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal taking away collective bargaining rights from most public employees. The Republicans voted for it and the Democrats fled to Illinois for three weeks to delay a vote.

Wisconsin: St. Croix County Republicans urge vote for ‘fake’ Democrat | JSOnline

The St. Croix County Republican Party has launched an 11th-hour effort to mobilize voters to support a “fake” Democrat in the 10th Senate District primary election on Tuesday.

Jesse Garza, chairman of the county party, sent out an email Sunday urging voters who support Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), who faces a recall election Aug. 9, to vote Tuesday for Isaac Weix of Menomonie. He’s one of six fake or protest candidates put up by the Republican Party to force Democratic primaries in six districts where Republican state senators face recall elections.

Weix faces Shelly Moore, a teacher and state teachers union official from River Falls, in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election. “We have the opportunity, and we might as well use it,” Garza said in a phone interview Sunday.

Wisconsin: Voter ID Phased in as Wisconsin Recall Elections Begin | WUWM

Tuesday’s recall primaries will be the first elections held since state Republicans passed a law requiring voters to present photo identification. But you do not have to show an ID card at the polls yet.

“The Legislature decided they wanted what you could call a ‘soft implementation.’ Photo ID is such a big change, and we don’t want to surprise anyone and have anyone be kept from voting when they don’t know about it,” says Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board. It oversees elections.

Wisconsin: ‘Madness Abounds’ as Fake Candidates Confuse Wisconsin Recalls | Bloomberg

Wisconsin voters will choose among real and fake Democrats this week to challenge six Republican senators in recall elections that may derail the agenda of Governor Scott Walker. The primaries are the opening skirmish in a state at political war. The six districts in tomorrow’s races have Republicans running as Democrats, hoping to win the nomination and effectively render the Aug. 9 recall votes meaningless.

At a time when politics usually takes a break, voters will select candidates to run against Republicans who supported Walker’s efforts to curb collective-bargaining rights for most public employees. On July 19, there will be two primaries and a full-fledged recall aimed at Democratic senators who fled the state in February in hopes of blocking the measure, which touched off weeks of protests across the nation.

“It feels like madness abounds in our state, like Wisconsin is 65,000 square miles surrounded by sanity,” said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonprofit that advocates openness in government. “We’re just living in a really weird time,” McCabe added in a telephone interview from Madison, the capital.

Wisconsin: Voter ID law impacts Wisconsin recall elections | Fox11.com

Voter Photo ID is now the law in Wisconsin. Starting next year, voters will be required to show a photo ID in order to receive a ballot and vote. While it’s not in place just yet, the new law will still have an impact on this summer’s recall elections.

Ahead of Tuesday’s primary recall elections, area poll workers are undergoing intense training with the passage of the new Voter Photo ID law. Poll workers are required to ask people for photo identification, even though it’s not mandatory yet.

“If people don’t have photo identification with them then they’re required to give them information on what they can bring for photo identification for next spring. So it’s kind of like a little early run through to get people familiar with that process,” said Chief Deputy Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno.

Wisconsin: Everything you need to know heading into Tuesday’s state senate recall election | Primary Matters/The Oshkosh Northwestern

The story of how state Sens. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon; and Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, are the subjects of a July primary and August recall election is as odd as the idea of two summer elections.

Just the same, voters will go to the polls Tuesday for a primary election to determine their opponents in an Aug. 9 recall election, a tale with a few plot twists along the way as well.

It began on Feb. 10 when Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature proposed to curtail the ability of some public employee unions to collectively bargain for wages and benefits and required employees to pay parts of their health insurance and pension contributions.

Arizona: Pearce officially faces recall election | Arizona Capitol Times

It’s official: Senate President Russell Pearce is the first sitting elected legislator who will face a recall election in Arizona history. The Secretary of State today confirmed that the group seeking Pearce’s recall has submitted more than enough signatures for the special election to take place.

The fast pace of the work done by state and county election officials means the special election will take place this November — unless someone successfully challenges the signatures in court. Gov. Jan Brewer has 15 days from today to issue an order calling for a special election, which must occur at the next scheduled election date that is more than 90 days away, meaning Pearce will go before voters in November.

Pearce’s critics now face the daunting task of finding and persuading a credible candidate to go against the Senate’s most powerful politician in one of Arizona’s most conservative enclaves.

Wisconsin: An election that isn’t about the candidates, primary signals strange times | LaCrosse Tribune

James Smith thinks Wisconsin law makes it too easy to recall a sitting legislator. And he’s willing to spend taxpayer dollars to protest it.

Smith, a self-described libertarian Republican and former officer of the La Crosse County GOP, will be on the ballot Tuesday alongside Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Shilling in a bid to challenge Sen. Dan Kapanke. He is one of six fake Democrats across the state running as part of a GOP strategy to delay recalls until August.

County clerks estimate the partisan primary will cost taxpayers in the 32nd Senate district about $117,000, the same as the Aug. 9 recall election. Smith hopes his candidacy draws attention to Wisconsin’s laws.

Wisconsin: Costs add up as counties plan for recall elections | Pierce County Herald

With a state senate recall election, a recall primary and a Supreme Court recount, local election clerks are seeing their 2011 budgets fall apart.

While it’s difficult to plan for these unprecedented elections, St. Croix and Pierce county clerks figure the unbudgeted expenses will total about $25,000 for each county. Those projections don’t include the amounts each city, village and town will pay for poll workers and their own miscellaneous expenses.

Wisconsin: Rep. Nygren knocked off ballot in Hansen recall election | JSOnline

State elections officials Monday took a Republican Assembly lawmaker off the ballot in a recall election against a Democratic senator.

The state Government Accountability Board voted unanimously to leave Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette) off the ballot in the July 19 recall election for Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) in the 30th Senate District. The board found that Nygren fell just short of collecting the 400 valid nominating signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, finding he collected only 398 valid signatures.

Wisconsin: What if they held an election and the results didn’t count? | Wisconsin Reporter

Wisconsin’s political parties may be trying every trick possible, from spoiler candidates to lawsuits, to manipulate the recall elections scheduled this summer. But the people on the ground, who have little opportunity to affect the process, will be facing the consequences.

For the officials running the elections, it’s a nasty and expensive headache that comes at the height of summer when employees typically take vacation, and voters’ attention is anywhere but on elections.

“For this time of year, it’s very hectic,” Fond du Lac County Clerk Lisa Freiberg said. Still, candidates and campaign managers say they are proceeding as if no uncertainty exists — and believe voters will, too.

Wisconsin: In work on recalls, elections chief Kevin Kennedy battles charges of partisanship | The Capital Times

Wisconsin’s non-partisan Government Accountability Board has seen its profile rise in the past several months with the pending recall elections, a statewide Supreme Court recount, redistricting and the implementation of a recently passed photo ID bill all falling under its purview.

Created through the merger of the state’s Elections and Ethics boards three years ago, the board is tasked with enforcing state elections, ethics and campaign finance laws. Lately staff members have had to navigate their duties in what director and general counsel Kevin Kennedy calls “politically charged times.”

National: Recall elections surge in state and local governments | latimes.com

The new president of Arizona’s state Senate, Russell Pearce, had only 21 days to enjoy that position before opponents began circulating petitions in January to recall the freshly reelected conservative.

That’s more time than Jim Suttle had. The night the Democrat was elected mayor of Omaha in 2009, backers of his rivals began to talk online about trying to remove him from office. Suttle barely survived a recall election in January. Once a political rarity, recall elections are surging in local and state governments.

The number of mayors who faced recalls doubled in 2010 from the previous year, the U.S. Conference of Mayors said. Anti-tax activists even tried to recall two Democratic U.S. senators last year, only to be shot down by courts, which noted that there are no provisions for recalls in federal law.

Wisconsin: Some Recall Voters Might Get Turned Away | WUWM

In three weeks, some Milwaukee voters will cast ballots in a recall of state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills. Darling, five other Republicans and three Democratic Senators face recalls…either for their support or opposition to Gov. Walker’s collective bargaining bill. As WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson reports, a few people who go to the polls could find themselves unable to vote because of a new state law.

One provision in the new Voter ID law the Legislature and governor approved in May, requires voters to have lived in their ward for 28 days. That means anyone who moved into their voting wards after June 14 is out of luck. However, Milwaukee Election Commissioner Sue Edman does not expect there to be much outrage at the polling places on July 12.

Wisconsin: County, city clerks prep for recalls | Fox11 WLUK-TV

County and city clerks are busy preparing for some unprecedented recall elections. Nine State Senators will fight for their seats over the next two months.

That includes three Democrats, Dave Hansen of Green Bay, Jim Holperin of Conover and Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie. There are also six Republicans, including Robert Cowles from Allouez, Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon.

The unusual round of elections has county and city clerks on their toes. They’re working on ballots for a July 12th primary. “They’re at the printers now and they’re being prepared for printing,” Outagamie County Clerk Lori O’Bright explained. Only this primary is a bit different.

Australia: New South Wales panel to look at recall elections | Sydney Morning Herald

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has appointed an expert panel to examine the introduction of recall elections so voters can dump “corrupt, incompetent governments”. The move makes good on an election promise Mr O’Farrell made ahead of the March poll to voters angry at the then Labor government.

“People across this state were desperate for an early election so they could throw out an incompetent, disastrous and corrupt government that NSW had,” Mr O’Farrell told question time on Monday.

Wisconsin: Democrats Withdraw ‘Placeholder’ Candidates in Recall Election – Whitefish Bay, WI Patch

Democratic “placeholder” candidates will no longer run in this summer’s state Senate recall elections, the Wisconsin Democratic Party announced Friday.

The party said it will not file the final paperwork needed to be put placeholders on ballot in the six recall elections targeting Republican senators, including state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).

The idea of using placeholder candidates came after Republicans decided to have “fake Democrats” to run in the Democratic primaries of the six recall elections targeting GOP senators. The move was designed to ensure that primary elections would be held in all six races to give the incumbents more time to prepare for the general election.

Michigan: Language to recall Rep. Kevin Cotter rejected; recall organizers say they’ll try again | themorningsun.com

The Isabella County Election Commission Thursday rejected petition language aimed at forcing a recall of Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Union Township, but recall organizers said they’d try again immediately.

The three member board, comprised of Isabella County Probate Judge William Ervin, Treasurer Steve Pickens and Clerk Joyce Swan, ruled that two different versions of the language were unclear.

But Joan Rasegan of Shepherd, who is leading the effort in Isabella County to recall Gov. Rick Snyder and is closely tied to the effort to recall Cotter, said she planned to rewrite the language to address the concerns of the elections board and resubmit it, probably yet this week.

Wisconsin: Recall in 10th Senate District will push election budgets into red | WQOW TV

Protests that happened months ago sparked recall efforts, which have some counties going back over their books.

Special elections can be costly and now we could have two in the 10th Senate District.  Republican Senator Sheila Harsdorf holds that seat and since another republican decided to run as a democrat out of protest, we could see a primary before the recall election itself.

No clerk could have guessed how 2011 was going to shape up when it comes to politics. “This year was scheduled to be a two election cycle, so I budgeted about $30,700,” says Carole Wondra, Polk County Clerk.

Wisconsin: Voter ID Law In Effect for Recall Election — Sort Of | Fox Point-Bayside, WI Patch

Poll workers will be required to ask voters for photo identification during this summer’s state Senate recall elections — but poll workers can’t stop residents from casting their ballots, at least for now.

The Government Accountability Board, the state agency that oversees elections, issued a reminder this week regarding the recently enacted voter ID law. While the requirement that all voters produce a photo ID does not go into effect until the 2012 spring primary, the new law requires that voters be asked for the information beginning with the recall elections.

In 2012, voters who do not have identification on them when they show up at the polls will be given conditional ballots that will be counted only if they can produce identification later.

Arizona: County validates more than enough signatures for AZ Senate President Pearce recall election | Arizona Capitol Times

Elections officials in Maricopa County have so far verified as valid more than 8,000 signatures submitted by a group seeking to recall Senate President Russell Pearce.

This means it’s almost certain that a special election will take place – most likely this November – since the recall group, Citizens for a Better Arizona, only needs 7,756 valid signatures.

Karen Osborne, director of elections for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, said her office has so far gone through about 13,600 signatures and validated 8,239 of them as of today.

Wisconsin: Octogenarian Former GOP State Rep To Run As Fake ‘Democrat’ In Wisconsin Recalls | TPMDC

Don’t let anyone say there isn’t bipartisanship in Wisconsin.

The newest example of Wisconsin Republicans recruiting fake Democratic candidates, to force Dem primaries and make trouble in the state Senate recalls: Otto Junkermann, an 82-year old former Republican state representative, who will challenge official Democratic candidate Nancy Nusbaum for the recall against GOP state Sen. Rob Cowles.

As the Green Bay Press Gazette reports, Junkermann very openly professes to support Cowles:

Otto Junkermann, 82 of Allouez, said he thinks “very highly” of Cowles, a Republican also from Allouez, and will run against Nusbaum as a “conservative Democrat.”

“I respect Rob a great deal. I’ve known him, I followed him into the Assembly and took the position he had when he went into the Senate, and I always admired him,” Junkermann said.

Junkermann served in the Assembly as a Republican for one term from 1987-88. He was also a Brown County supervisor from 1982-87 and ran again in 2002, 2004 and 2008 but lost.

Wisconsin: Expense of fake Democrats in primaries will top $400,000 | JSOnline

A plan by Republicans to run fake Democratic candidates in this summer’s recall elections would cost taxpayers upward of $428,000, according to election clerks. In one Senate district alone, the cost would top $100,000, interviews with county and municipal clerks show.

Even if Republicans back off their plans in some of the districts, taxpayers are all but guaranteed to have to pay the costs of the primary, because Democrats now plan to run multiple candidates in order to guarantee all the recall elections are held on the same day. Tuesday is the filing deadline.

Recall elections for six Republican senators are scheduled for July 12. But if there are multiple candidates from the same party in any of those elections, the July 12 election becomes a primary, with a general recall election to follow on Aug. 9.

Wisconsin: Who is the ‘Fake Democrat’ in Wisconsin 8th Senate District Recall Race? | Menomonee Falls, WI Patch

Gladys Huber, an 80-year-old Mequon woman who has filed papers to run as a Democrat in the 8th Senate District recall election made an odd comment when reached by a reporter.

“I really have no comment at all,” she said. “I will refer you to the Republican Party of Wisconsin.”

State party officials did not return calls about Huber’s candidacy but they have been upfront about its intention to run Republicans as Democrats in an effort to give incumbent senators like the 8th District’s Alberta Darling more time to raise money and campaign.

The state’s Government Accountability Board said Friday that Huber has officially registered to run as a Democrat against state Rep. Sandy Pasch of Whitefish Bay. If both candidates meet the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline to file nominating petitions, a primary election would be held July 12 and the winner of that race would take on Darling on Aug. 9.

Wisconsin: Democrats may join GOP in fielding ‘fake’ candidates in recalls | JSOnline

Wisconsin’s unprecedented recall elections could soon get even more complicated. A coalition of union groups active in state Senate recalls now advocates that Democrats field fake Republican candidates to run in primary elections against GOP state senators – just as Republicans are fielding fake Democrats to run against those who challenging GOP incumbents.

Friday evening, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin issued a statement that neither endorsed nor ruled out the idea, saying the party will “review the options available.”

The proposal from We Are Wisconsin, described in an email from Kelly Steele, communications director, was sent earlier Friday. The email argued that it was necessary to keep Republicans from hijacking the election process, and called on interested Democrats to contact the state Democratic Party and volunteer to run as Republicans in the districts of six GOP senators subject to recall elections.

Wisconsin: ‘Protest’ Democratic candidate surfaces in Darling recall election | JSOnline

A member of the Republican Party of Ozaukee County has surfaced as a possible Democratic candidate in the recall election targets Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).

Gladys Huber, listed on the Ozaukee GOP’s website as a member at large — presumably of the county party’s executive committee — has filed a registration form to run as a Democrat against Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay).

The candidacy is part of the state GOP strategy — described by Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald — to run “protest” candidates against Democrats challenging six Republican senators in recall campaigns.