GAB says its team is gearing up to review recall signatures



MADISON -- The signature petitions to force a recall election of Governor Scott Walker are due on Tuesday, January 17. Now, we know how the Government Accountability Board (GAB) will review those signature.

The GAB expects to receive more than one million signatures on recall petitions for Gov. Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and possible four Republican state senators.

A Waukesha County judge ruled the GAB review all recall petitions and actively strike duplicate and fake signatures.
GAB head Kevin Kennedy says part of that cost will be hiring 50 temporary staff members and buying a $100,000 software upgrade.
"The software will look at the printed names and the addresses," said Kennedy. "We can run a report that says how many people have the same name."

The GAB team will be set up to review the signatures in an undisclosed state facility in Madison, behind barbed wire and guarded by Capitol Police. But the state Republican Party isn't leaving it up to the GAB alone to review the petitions. Republicans have opened ten offices across the state.

Walker supports are preparing to challenge the validity of signature in court if need by.

In the meantime, Democrats are trying to minimize the number of signatures that could be challenged. Recall organizers put each petition through a multi-step process for double and checking signatures for technical accuracy.

Officials aren't sure how long it will take to review all of the signatures. But they say it will definitely be more than 60 days.