Wisconsin Senate recall elections, 2012

Recall elections for four Wisconsin state senators were held during the spring of 2012. Voters put four state senators up for recall, all Republicans, because of the budget repair bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker and circumstances surrounding it. Democrats targeted Republicans for voting to significantly limit public employee collective bargaining. Scholars could cite only four times in American history when more than one state legislator has been recalled at roughly the same time over the same issue. The recall elections occurred on June 5, with May 8 being the date of the primary election.

These recall elections followed the largest group of recall elections in U.S. history during the previous year, in which Republicans kept control of the Wisconsin Senate. In the June 5, 2012 recall elections, Democrats appeared to have taken over one seat from Republicans. Although the victory gave Democrats control of the Senate, the state legislature would not be in regular session again until after the November 2012 election when control of the legislature would again be contested. After the November 2012 election, Republicans regained control of the state Senate due to the resignation of one Democrat and two losses by Democrats to Republicans.

Successful petitions

Dist.	Location	Incumbent	Party	Signatures required	Signatures approved (%)
13	Fort Atkinson, Watertown, Beaver Dam, Juneau	Scott L. Fitzgerald	Republican	16,742	18,282 (109%)
21	Racine, Elmwood Park, Sturtevant, Union Grove	Van H. Wanggaard	Republican	15,353	19,142 (125%)
23	Neillsville, Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Bloomer	Terry Moulton	Republican	14,958	18,657 (125%)
29	Wausau, Park Falls, Ladysmith, Medford	Pam Galloway	Republican	15,647	18,511 (118%)

Additional recall election proposals

Paperwork was filed with the state Government Accountability Board in March 2012 authorizing an effort to collect recall signatures against Senator Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) and explore recalling Senator Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). Both efforts were launched by persons affiliated with the Citizens For Responsible Government Network, saying both Senators cost the state jobs. Both Senators opposed a bill that would have helped a Florida company open an iron mine in Wisconsin's north woods. The mining bill would have reworked Wisconsin's permitting process to help Gogebic Taconite open an iron mine just south of Lake Superior in Jauch's district. The company had claimed the project would create hundreds of needed jobs in northwestern Wisconsin, and Republicans touted the bill as their signature job-creation legislation this past session. 15,270 signatures were required to force Jauch into a recall election. 14,545 signatures were required to force Schultz into a recall election. The group came up short in their efforts to obtain signatures and said they would try again after the Walker gubernatorial recall election on June 5, 2012.

Polling

Dist.	Date of poll	Candidate	Result in most recent poll	Poll information
13	April 13–15	Scott Fitzgerald (R-inc.)	54%	Conducted by PPP
		Lori Compas (D)	40%
21		Van Wanggaard (R-inc.)	48%	Conducted by PPP
		John Lehman (D)	46%
23		Terry Moulton (R-inc.)	51%	Conducted by PPP
		Kristen Dexter (D)	41%
29		Jerry Petrowski (R)	51%	Conducted by PPP
		Donna Seidel	37%

Results

Primaries

Date	Dist.	Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
May 8	13	Lori Compas	Democratic	21,246	72%
		Gary Ellerman	Democratic (Fake)	8,212	28%
	21	John Lehman	Democratic	20,273	68%
		Tamara Varebrook	Democratic (Fake)	9,507	32%
	23	Kristen Dexter	Democratic	17,638	64%
		James Engel	Democratic (Fake)	9,725	36%
	29	Donna Seidel	Democratic	17,920	64%
		James Buckley	Democratic (Fake)	9,992	36%
Total				114,513

General elections

Date	Dist.	Incumbent	Party	Votes	Percent
June 5	13	Scott Fitzgerald	Republican	47,116	58.4%
		Lori Compas	Democratic	32,870	40.7%
	21	Van Wanggaard	Republican	35,539	49.4%
		John Lehman	Democratic	36,358	50.6%
	23	Terry Moulton	Republican	39,843	56.7%
		Kristen Dexter	Democratic	30,479	43.3%
	29	Jerry Petrowski	Republican	44,027	61.4%
		Donna Seidel	Democratic	27,702	38.6%

District 21

The initial vote on June 5 showed Democrat John Lehman defeating incumbent Republican Van Wanggaard by a margin of less than 800 votes. The election canvas, a week later on June 12, confirmed Lehman won. However, on June 14, the Racine County Sheriff's Office announced it was investigating allegations of voting irregularities at the Dr. John Bryant Center in Racine, as well as reports of voter registration forms in the trash behind the Cesar Chavez Center, also in Racine. Wanggaard had until 5 p.m. on June 15 to request a recount.

On June 15, Wanggaard asked for a recount, which began on June 20, and was completed by July 2. On June 25, it was revealed that possibly thousands of voters, including 116 voters in Ward 2 of Racine, did not sign the poll book before obtaining their ballot, a violation of Wisconsin law. Despite objection by the Wanggaard campaign, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board refused to strike the votes as invalid. Lehman was declared the winner by 819 votes in certified recount numbers.

See also

• 2011 Wisconsin protests
• 2011 Wisconsin Act 10
• Wisconsin Supreme Court election, 2011
• Wisconsin Senate recall elections, 2011
• Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, 2012

External links

• Elections & Voting at the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board
• Database of Governor Walker and state senator recall petitions