So the final three recall drives against Republicans have been approved, but the Government Accountability Board (GAB) is asking for an extension to rule on the drives against 3 Democratic senators:
GAB announced on Friday that it would need to delay consideration of petitions against Democratic Sens. Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie, Jim Holperin of Conover and Dave Hansen of Green Bay because election staff needed more time to review the Democratic challenges to the petitions. Staff Counsel Shane Falk said staff worked significant overtime during the holiday weekend to complete their review of the Darling petition before focusing on the petitions targeting Democrats, which had more complex legal issues.
The translation here is that the allegations of fraud made by the Republicans about the volunteer recall petitions targeting them were laughable, but the allegations made against the mostly-out-of-state for profit signature collectors are credible.
Additionally, the margins for the drives are different, which makes the impact of any irregularities less significant, because, after all, a for profit firm won’t collect a single more signature than is necessary.
What this means is that, absent a court ruling, the Republican and the Democratic (if any) recall elections, at least the 1st round, would be on different dates if the GAB gets permission from the judges.
Of course, the final ruling may very well be from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has a Republican majority, so all bets are off.