FAQs about voting in the recall election
Answer: The law requiring a photo ID card to vote has been suspended. On Monday, April 16th 2012, the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to take up the cases regarding the Voter ID law. Therefore, these cases will go back to the Appeals Court for ruling. This means that the suspension of the law remains in tact, and photo ID is not required to vote in Wisconsin. It is advised that you assume the law will be in effect for the recall election on June 5th, and make sure you have a photo ID by the election.
Answer: The recall election for Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch is scheduled for Tuesday, June 5th, 2012.
Answer: Click on this link and it will take you to a secure site hosted by the Government Accountability Board (GAB) and enter your Last Name, First Name, and Date of Birth and click the Search button. Next click your name. Scroll down the page and you can verify your Polling Place Location and hours.
Answer: It is simple, follow this link to a secure site hosted by the Government Accountability Board (GAB) and enter your Last Name, First Name, and Date of Birth.
Answer: There are three ways to register 1) In Person 2) By Mail 3) At the Polling Location On Election Day. Note: if registering by mail, the registration must be postmarked no later than May 16th. Click on this link below for additional details.
Answer: Due to the timing of State certification of the May 8 Special Election ballot, absentee ballots will be delivered to the Clerk’s Offices until Friday, April 20. The Government Accountability Board has notified the County Clerks that ballots may not be sent to the printer until Tuesday, April 17. We will not have .pdf copies of the ballots until Tuesday, April 17.
Paper Copies of Military Absentee Ballots will be mailed Tuesday, April 17.
Paper copies of Absentee Ballots sent to out-of-state and international addresses will be mailed no later than Wednesday, April 18.
All other Absentee Ballots will be mailed as efficiently as possible once ballots are received in our office, we hope to have all ballots in the mail by Monday, April 23.
The certified date for the Special Primary is Tuesday, May 8, 2012. The certified date for the Special Recall Election is Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Answer: Voting in summer elections as a college student.
If you are registered to vote but have left with the intention of returning, you may vote from the address at which you are registered to vote in. When requesting an absentee ballot, be sure to give the Clerk’s Office the address to which the ballot should be sent, in addition to the address at which you are registered to vote. You may not register to vote at a temporary address.
If you are registered to vote but have left with no intention of returning, you will need to register and vote in your new municipality once you have been there long enough to establish residency.
Ten to 15 percent* of absentee ballots do not get counted. Absentee ballots are rejected for the following reasons:
Ballot has not been postmarked by Election day and not been received by the Clerk’s Office until after Friday of Election Week.
Voter has not signed absentee certificate envelope.
Voter has not had a witness sign the absentee certificate envelope.
Voter has not registered to vote at their current address.
Voter has not sealed the absentee certificate envelope.
Voter has not sent original absentee request to Clerk’s Office after submitting request by fax or e-mail.
The City Clerk’s Office strongly encourages absentee voters to take the following precautions:
Either vote absentee in the Clerk’s Office, or carefully read the instruction letter that you receive with your absentee ballot.
Mail your absentee ballot back to the Clerk’s Office as early as possible. The ballot must be postmarked by Election day and received by the Clerk’s Office Friday of Election Week.
Make sure you sign the certificate envelope on the line marked “Signature of Voter.”
Have your witness sign the certificate envelope on the line marked “Signature of Witness.”
Make sure the envelope is sealed.
If you have moved, you must register to vote at your new address. Crossing out the address on your absentee label and writing in your new address does not update your voter registration.
See the relevant State Statutes listed below.
§ 6.10
(4) The residence of an unmarried person sleeping in one ward and boarding in another is the place where the person sleeps. The residence of an unmarried person in a transient vocation, a teacher or a student who boards at different places for part of the week, month, or year, if one of the places is the residence of the person’s parents, is the place of the parents’ residence unless through registration or similar act the person elects to establish a residence elsewhere. If the person has no parents and if the person has not registered elsewhere, the person’s residence shall be at the place that the person considered his or her residence in preference to any other for at least 28 consecutive days before an election. If this place is within the municipality, the person is entitled to all the privileges and subject to all the duties of other citizens having their residence there, including voting.
(5) A person shall not lose residence when the person leaves home and goes into another state or county, town, village or ward of this state for temporary purposes with an intent to return.
(8) No person gains a residence in any ward or election district of this state while there for temporary purposes only.
FAQs about the recall
Answer: The recall election never was meant to replace representative government. And it’s most certainly not a tool to be used lightly. However, when elected officials subvert the will of those they represent, enacting a radical agenda that seeks to concentrate power in the hands of the very few and jeopardizing the livelihoods of the people they are supposed to protect, the exercise of the constitutionally-guaranteed right to force a recall election is a just and proper tool to force accountability upon those elected officials who act as if there is none.
Answer: A recall election has been scheduled for June 5th, 2012. Candidates are currently campaigning for your support going into a primary election scheduled for May 8th, 2012. Be sure you research the candidates carefully and vote on primary day! For more information on the candidates, visit our BE A VOTER page.
Answer: United Wisconsin has made a promise to its diverse support base that we will remain nonpartisan. Therefore, we will not be making any endorsement of a candidate in the recall election. Our focus is to continue shedding light on the effects of Walker’s extreme policies on the people of Wisconsin, and getting out the vote to recall him from office June 5th.
FAQs about United Wisconsin
Answer: United Wisconsin is an independent, grassroots organization of citizens restoring the Wisconsin tradition of democracy in action. United Wisconsin is leading the effort to recall Governor Scott Walker.
Answer: United Wisconsin formed many partnerships with groups all across Wisconsin during the petition gathering campaign. Since January 17th, 2012, we are again working independently.
Answer: We represent hundreds of thousands of people across Wisconsin who want to see Scott Walker recalled. We are non-union and non-partisan. Our strength as an organization comes from citizens of Wisconsin of all stripes, who want to make their voices heard about the important challenges we face as a state.
FAQs about supporting the recall
Answer: Becoming a United Wisconsin volunteer is easy. Just sign up here and you will be contacted about getting involved.
Answer: There are two easy ways to make a donation to our grassroots organization.
1. Contribute safely and securely online here.
2. Mail a check payable to:
United Wisconsin PAC
P.O. Box 1703
Madison, WI 53701
Answer: There are two easy ways to get recall gear from United Wisconsin. You can order safely and securely online at our online store, or visit either of our offices during business hours. We’re completely non-profit, and all the proceeds from the store help us continue our recall efforts.
FAQs about political issues
Answer: Governor Walker’s policies are destroying the institutions and values that make Wisconsin a great place to live. For details on Walker’s policies and their effects on the state of Wisconsin, visit our Be Informed! Page for a breakdown by issue.
Answer: A recall election has been scheduled for June 5th, 2012. Candidates are currently campaigning for your support going into a primary election scheduled for May 8th, 2012. Be sure you research the candidates carefully and vote on primary day! For more information on the candidates, visit our BE A VOTER page.
Answer: This is absolutely false. Governor Walker never campaigned on taking away 50 years of collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers. In fact, on multiple occasions, he told the voters that in order to make the changes he wanted, we would negotiate with unions. See an example here.
Answer: Scott Walker ran on a moderate platform to create jobs and bring economic stability to Wisconsin. There was nothing in his campaign about outlawing collective bargaining and destroying unions; nothing about privatizing state services; nothing about giving huge tax breaks to corporations while drastically cutting funding for virtually every state program.
Answer: This recall effort is about much more than union-busting. It’s about huge tax breaks for corporations at the expense of funding for education, BadgerCare, clean air and water, voters’ rights, and maintaining the state services Wisconsinites invested in instead of farming them out to private corporations—even things as basic as the democratic balance of government’s three branches.
Answer: The problem with what’s happening politically now is that unless the Walker policies are overturned, almost everything will change—standards of education, standards in the workplace, health care, voter’s rights, maintaining state services we come to rely on and turning them over to private corporations—and, with Walker trying to take more and more control from the legislature and judiciary, the even the basic balance of power shared by the three branches of government.
Answer: Actually, just about everyone in Wisconsin is being affected right now. With massive cuts in education funding, teachers have been laid off or have taken early retirement so as not to lose pensions when their contracts run out, so anyone with kids in school is being affected.
Answer: The teachers had already agreed to the cuts that would negatively affect their pensions before the Walker bill went forward. The real issue was the elimination of their collective bargaining rights which could affect classroom size, hiring and firing practices, etc.
Answer: If taxes were the only issue, it’s important to realize that the huge cuts in state funding for programs across the state may end up with counties forced to raise property taxes to pay for programs formerly supported by the state. Cuts in education and the defunding of recycling programs are just two examples. Additionally, by cutting the Homestead and Earned Income tax credits, Walker has effectively raised taxes on Wisconsinites, especially the elderly and working poor.
