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Walker Defends GOP Lawsuit Challenging Recall Procedures

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) shakes hands with Republican legislative members after delivering his budget address to a joint session of the legislature at the state Capitol on March 1, 2011 in Madison, WI.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) spoke Monday in support of the lawsuit filed by the state Republican Party against state elections officials, demanding that the board (and not his campaign) be tasked with challenging duplicate petition signatures for disqualification in the recall campaign against him.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

At a news conference Monday, Walker mentioned a news report of a person saying he signed a recall petition at least 80 times is a sign that the GAB should take additional steps to review the petitions.

“If people want to sign it — and they have every right to in this state — it should be enforced that they can sign it once and they actually have to sign it with a real name related to a real voting location in this state.”

The state GOP’s lawsuit, filed late last week, claims that Walker’s 14th Amendment rights of Equal Protection are violated by putting a burden on his campaign to review and challenge petition signatures within a ten-day period.

(The same procedures were used in a series of state Senate recalls, on both sides of the aisle, earlier this year.)

The state Democrats will file a motion to intervene — that is, to become a legal party in the case — some time early this week.

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