Group looking to recall Evers says they’ve met the minimum number of required petition signatures

MADISON, Wis. (WBAY) – An effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers regarding his handling of the COVID-19, as well as the riots in Kenosha, might be moving forward.

The petition drive to recall Governor Evers, which has been going on during the presidential campaign season, has quietly gained some momentum.

Petition organizers tell Action 2 News they have already collected the minimum number of signatures ahead of next week’s deadline. However, a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel states a recall organizer has suggested in Facebook posts that she is misleading various news outlets.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Misty Polewczynski wrote “I’m going to do an interview this afternoon and will probably make up some crap to tell them” in an exchange on Facebook about who should run against Evers. The report also states Polewczynski was convicted of forgery, writing a worthless check and bail jumping 15 years ago, and launched the recall effort in August. CLICK HERE to view that article.

If there are enough signatures, and they are all verified, we’re now learning how this could play out if the signatures on the petition are verified.

“I don’t think we’ve had very good decisions being made at the executive level in our state and a lot of freedoms have been infringed upon,” said Nick Kind, the Recall Evers group leader. Kind is one of other group leaders behind the effort, which started in late August.

The recall effort has until October 27th to collect and submit, more than 668,000 valid signatures.

That number matches 25% of the votes cast in the 2018 election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission states an official must be in office for one year before a recall can be initiated, and the number of signatures required to trigger a recall is one-quarter of the number of votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election.

“We are at a minimum and we are pushing towards our goal. Since the beginning we wanted it to be overwhelming to the point where we match and exceed what the Walker recall was years ago. We’re not settling for anything shy of a million,” said Kind. Action 2 News did reach out to a number of Democrats, including the Governor’s office, for comment.

In our region, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson said the “Governor is trying to lead--- making tough decisions-- when it seems everyone else is just passing the buck, but last time I checked mask orders clocked in at 70% approval up here.” However, Kind says the recall isn’t about party affiliation.

“It’s made up of Democrats, Republicans, independents, teachers, police officers, people that have never even voted before, people who have never been involved in politics, people from all across the map,” said Kind.

If enough signatures are verified, a recall election would be scheduled six weeks later, and if there’s a need for primary, another four weeks of campaigning can be expected beyond that.

Wisconsin’s last gubernatorial recall involved former governor Scott Walker, former Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and four members of the State Senate in June of 2012.

Click here for those statewide results.