John Nichols at the Nation is reporting that Wisconsin activists submitted petitions with 1 million signatures to state officials on Tuesday — almost twice the number of eligible voters needed to force the notorious anti-labor Gov. Scott Walker to face a new election.
A total of 540,208 valid signatures are required to recall Scott Walker, the Republican governor, who was elected in 2010. On Tuesday afternoon, the United Wisconsin movement that was organized to recall and remove the governor submitted almost twice that number …
The movement to oust Walker will have secured the support of a higher percentage of eligible voters than has ever before sought to recall an American governor.
The figures are ominous for Walker, whose poll numbers collapsed after he attacked the collective bargaining rights of state, county and municipal workers and teachers in a move last winter that provoked mass demonstrations. Neither Walker nor his foes now express serious doubts about the prospect that Wisconsin’s high standard for forcing a recall election will be met.
Petitioners were required to gather 25 percent of the total turnout in the most recent gubernatorial election — 540,208 valid signatures — to trigger a new election. That election could take place as early as this spring, although the precise date will not be determined until the petitions have been reviewed and certified by the state Government Accountability Board …
We hope that the hubris among Walker and his ilk has been shaken by this movement. Did they think workers would just stand by and let them wage war on the middle class?
Read more at the Nation.