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Speaker Fitzgerald to introduce Recall Petition Fraud Prevention Act
Madison – Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) introduced Thursday the Recall Petition Fraud Prevention Act. The bill will make it illegal to sign the same recall petition more than once.
“We have seen recall groups encourage people to sign forms multiple times and we know it is happening,” Fitzgerald said. “You have people bragging about it on television including a man who admitted to signing 80 different times. It’s just common sense that this shouldn’t be allowed.”
Fitzgerald says he hopes to bring clarity to a situation that has been made confusing by conflicting statements from the Government Accountability Board. In recent weeks, the board has issued statements indicating that such actions could be illegal while at the same time encouraging people to sign multiple petitions.
The bill will make it a class I felony to sign more than one petition. It will also require every recall petition to specify that it is unlawful to sign more than once. The legislation will also create an avenue for the attorney general to investigate and prosecute cases of recall petition fraud.
Fitzgerald also released a memo from the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislative Council which clarified that it is already illegal to sign another individual’s name or a fictional name on a recall petition.
“The GAB’s position that it will accept the signatures of names such as Mickey Mouse is jaw dropping,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s not a person in the state that thinks signatures like that should be counted.”