Scott Walker Will Not Challenge Wisconsin Recall Signatures

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who faces a recall election this spring after thousands of signatures were gathered by his opponents, will not challenge the legitimacy of those signatures, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

The reason? Walker's campaign spokeswoman, Ciara Matthews, told the newspaper that the campaign had been given "an impossible timeline" to review them. A Dane County judge had set a 5 p.m. Monday deadline for Walker's campaign to file a legal challenge to the signatures, according to the State Journal, the end of a 20-day extension that the judge had permitted. Wisconsin law usually sets a 10-day window for such challenges.

Walker's attorneys filed for a second two-week extension that was denied, according to the newspaper.

The state Government Accountability Board, which received the petition, has a March 19 deadline for completing its review of the signatures, according to the State Journal, and could disqualify some that are found to be duplicates, incomplete or faked.

The newspaper does not expect a recall election to be held until at least early May.

Walker's political opponents filed nearly two million signatures in January to recall the governor, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four Republican state senators, according to the Associated Press.