MADISON (WKOW) -- Democrats announced Thursday they only need about 32,000 more signatures to force a recall of Governor Scott Walker.
But, just after that announcement, Republicans filed a lawsuit to make the process of counting those signatures much more tedious.
On the one-month anniversary of the recall petition drive, the chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin made this announcement in suburban Milwaukee.
"You're strength and determination has helped us collect more than 507,000 signatures to recall Scott Walker," said DPW Chair Mike Tate to the applause of supporters.
That number leaves Democrats about 32,000 short of the 540,208 signatures needed to force a recall.
In Madison, volunteers at United Wisconsin headquarters said they're even more motivated now.
"As a result of all of this momentum and as a result of the energy and the excitement we've seen, we're increasing our goal and feel confident that we'll get there in the next 30 days," said United Wisconsin Spokesperson Meagan Mahaffey.
The new goal is 720,000 signatures, which could be very important.
Governor Walker's campaign and the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit which could result in more signatures being thrown out than originally thought.
Filed in Waukesha County, the suit asks a judge to require the Government Accountability Board to throw out duplicate signatures, clearly fake names like Mickey Mouse and clearly illegible signatures.
The GAB refuses to automatically toss such signatures, saying its up to the recall challenger to point out problems with the petitions.
Recall organizers said they will not allow the lawsuit to stop them.
"There's a lot of energy and momentum and we are excited to keep moving, excited to hit this new goal of 720," said Mahaffey.
The Republican's lawsuit contends that counting duplicate signatures violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, because it harms the rights of those not signing.
********
MADISON (WKOW) -- The petition drive to recall Governor Scott Walker has 507,533 signatures after just one month.
United Wisconsin announced the new numbers Thursday morning.
The group only needs 32,675 more signatures by January 17 to force a recall election of Gov. Walker.
********
MADISON (WKOW) -- The Democratic Party of Wisconsin will hold a live web conference at 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning to announce how many signatures have been gathered in the recall petition drive against Gov. Scott Walker.
Thursday marks the one-month anniversary of the petition drive.
On November 28, recall organizers reported they had gathered approximately 300,000 signatures.
