Racine Republicans hard at work, seeking recall volunteers



RACINE -- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is not the only one who may face a recall election in the state of Wisconsin. Four Republican state senators have petitions against them. In Racine County, more than 24,000 registered voters signed a petition to recall State Senator Van Wanggaard. Now, these Republicans are hard at work in a race to keep their seat, and they're training supporters to help.

With a swipe of a pen, Marty Biland is ready to volunteer. "I came here to learn how I can actually look at some of the voter signatures to verify them," Biland said. One day after Democrats say they turned in one million signatures to recall Scott Walker, and about 24,000 to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard, the Racine Republican is not frowning - she's energized! "I plan on coming in and volunteering at least a good three hours, if not more," Biland said.

Racine County Republican Chairman Bill Folk says the push is on to get volunteers to make sure there were no mistakes made on recall petitions. "In Racine County, we will have 150 to 200 volunteers minimum that will be doing this. They will go through line by line, signature by signature, to do the validation," Folk said.

With time ticking to check the petitions, Republicans are hitting the phones, giving surveys and looking for more volunteers, but it's a process Democrats say is not necessary. "I can tell you there was quality control layers starting at field offices where most of these came from, and again, when they hit the mother-ship, if you will," Jeremy Levinson, the lawyer for the Democratic recall efforts said.

In Racine County, Democrats say they checked petitions as many as six times over, but that won't stop Republican supporters from giving them one more look. "It just keeps them accountable, and makes sure they got the correct signatures and we are going to do that job," Folk said.

Both sides in this recall effort are waiting for the State Elections Board to go to court, perhaps by the end of the week, to seek more time to review the 1,9 million signatures. Given how long that process may take, any recall election is unlikely before May.