Board agrees to post Walker recall petitions

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Petitions seeking the recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker are now posted online despite privacy concerns.

The Government Accountability Board announced late Tuesday that it would post the petitions later in the evening. The board originally was to post them Monday, but delayed that after concerns were raised about the names and addresses of domestic violence victims being made public through the release.

But board director Kevin Kennedy says attorneys from his staff and the Department of Justice did a thorough analysis of the issue and determined that the names should be posted.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and others advocated earlier Tuesday for the petitions to be made public.

In a written statement, the GAB said, "Unlike an elector's vote, which is private and confidential, the signing of recall petitions is a public process."

Prior to the GAB's announcement, State Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen said the board isn't required to release the records of recall signatures in an online format. Van Hollen also said what's release is up to the GAB.

"They should do what they think is necessary to make things accessible, but also to make the release of that information economically viable," said Van Hollen.

The petitions to recall four republican state senators were published online by the GAB last week.

Republicans say besides being published online now, the information gathered on the recall petitions against the governor is also available upon request in hard-copy format.

“It’s a matter of public record. You can go to the public library and look up someone's voter registration information or campaign finance reports. Again, the issue is this is what's been done with all recall elections in the past. Recall petitions are a matter of open record in Wisconsin,” said Ben Sparks with the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Democrats and Republicans both say they understand the Government Accountability Board has the responsibility to disclose the information as public record, and doing so online might be the most cost and time effective way of getting that information out. However, Democrats say in politically contentious times, some people who signed petitions may be concerned about their safety.

“Whether or not those pose a concern to their safety, it's not for me to say. But those concerns are very valid, and they should be taken into consideration,” said State Representative Fred Clark, a Democrat from Baraboo.

The GAB says while the petitions are available online, the website does not have a search function. That means if you want to find an individual name, you may have to go through more than a million signatures.