Wisconsin’s May 8th Primary

Wisconsin voters will make history Tuesday May 8th when they go to the polls in our first-ever statewide primary recall election. On the ballot will be Republican and Democratic primaries for governor and a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.

In addition to the statewide primaries for governor and lieutenant governor, four state senators face recalls this year: Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau; Van Wanggaard, R-Racine; and Terry Moulton, R-Chippewa Falls. The fourth senator, Pam Galloway, R-Wausau, has resigned her seat in the Senate.

This primary is special in that you are allowed to cross-party-vote. For example in Racine you may vote for Scott Walker on the Republican ticket and vote for Tamra Varebrook on the Democrat primary for State Senate. Below is a copy of a sample ballot.

Recall History

The right to request recall elections, which allow citizens to remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended, was added to the Wisconsin Constitution in 1926 and amended in 1981. Scott Walker is only the third governor in U.S. history to be subject to a recall election. The only other sitting governors to be recalled were in California in 2003, when Arnold Schwarzenegger won a recall election over Gray Davis, and in North Dakota in 1921, when Lynn Frazier was removed from office and replaced by Ragnvald A. Nestos.

---