Recall ON: signature count defies expectations

More than 96 percent of recall signatures valid

The Government Accountability Board will officially recommend tomorrow moving forward the recall elections of Gov. Scott Walker, his Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and several Republican state senators, following the certification of millions of signatures submitted in favor of their facing special elections.

The GAB certified 900,938 signatures as valid against the governor specifically, striking less than four percent of those submitted as invalid. To put the size of that number into greater perspective, recall organizers needed only 540,208 signatures to trigger a recall, meaning the number they garnered was 166 percent greater than what was required of them.

While that's not enough to overcome the amount Walker won election by, it's still a significant margin. What's more, Wisconsin's certifiable signature count is much larger than the infamous California recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis. That recall had a signature rate of about 84 percent verifiable, or around 16 percent of signatures found invalid -- more than four or five times that of Wisconsin's.

Additionally, many of the fraudulent signatures in Wisconsin were undoubtedly from Walker supporters themselves. Names like "Adolph Hitler" and "I Love Scott Walker Thanks" were among those the GAB struck. In the case of the former name, Walker supporters had actually encouraged those opposing the recall to sign as "Adolph Hitler" in order to disrupt the process.

Apparently, it didn't work.

The fact that the recall campaign came up with more than 900,000 valid signatures is a feat that shouldn't be ignored. Defeating Gov. Walker won't be an easy thing to accomplish, but it can be achievable with the right candidate. Walker should prepare for a campaign that will look carefully at his disgraceful record as governor as well as the promises he broke when he was a candidate for.

With those two issues in mind, there's no doubt that Gov. Walker's tenure in office is in serious jeopardy. For the people of Wisconsin, there couldn't be news any better than that.