January, 17 2012, 01:48pm EDT
Biggest Recall in American History: More Than One Million Signatures Submitted to Recall Scott Walker
MADISON
United Wisconsin today announced that more than one million Wisconsinites have signed a petition to recall Scott Walker, representing the most-participated-in major recall effort in American history, and a number so significant that it is beyond any legal challenge. More then 845,000 signatures were collected for Rebecca Kleefisch. Signatures were submitted to the Government Accountability Board this afternoon.
The signatures represent the largest recall effort in the history of the United States and 185 percent of the signatures needed to trigger a recall of Walker.
"The collection of more than one million signatures represents a crystal clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Scott Walker has caused Wisconsin," said Ryan Lawler, board member for United Wisconsin. "Scott Walker and his supporters tried to demean and marginalize recall circulators, but in Wisconsin winter, an army of more than 30,000 Wisconsin born-and-bred recall volunteers took to street corners, malls, places of worship, dinner tables and sidewalks to take their state back."
The total of a million signatures to recall Scott Walker represents nearly half, 46 percent, of the electorate - and is just shy of the TOTAL votes received by Walker in his 2010 election (Walker received 1.12 million votes).
In comparison, this figure surpasses the per capita participation in the effort to trigger a ballot initiative in Ohio last fall against a Republican union-busting effort, where 32 percent of the electorate signed the petition, and in America's only other two gubernatorial recalls, in 2003 in California and in 1921 in North Dakota, the signature totals were 23.4 percent and 31.8 percent, of the electorate signed respectively. The attached charts outline these figures.
Fun facts about the recall petitions of Walker, Kleefisch and the Senate recalls include:
The weight of all of the signatures collected is 3,000 pounds. That's two of the heaviest Wisconsin Dairy (Holstein) Cows, or 158 of the heaviest Badgers.
300,000 pages at 14" each laid end to end is 66.3 miles. This is the distance from Green Bay to Oshkosh, La Crosse to Tomah.
Stood straight up the petition pile is 128 times higher than the tallest building in the world.
Stacked on top of one another, the petitions would reach 125 feet high, which is taller than the wings of the Madison Capitol Building (those are 84 feet high).
A full breakdown of the biggest recall in American history is available to view here. Graphic illustrations of the recall numbers are available to view here and here.
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