Racine County man files petition to recall Assembly Speaker Vos

A Racine County man filed a petition to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) on Wednesday, claiming Vos is “blocking” fair elections in the state. 

The man, Burlington resident Matthew Snorek, said in the recall petition that Vos — the most powerful Republican in Wisconsin state government — needs to be recalled because of his opposition to Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary and failure to impeach the state’s top election official. 

“Vos is blocking fair elections in WI, Vos misled the WI Assembly on the impeachment of Megan [sic] Wolfe,” Snorek’s filing states. “Vos said he will ‘try as hard as I can to make sure Donald Trump is not the nominee in 2024.’ Vos supported the unlawful drop boxes. Wisconsin must move ‘forward’ without Robin Vos in power.” 

Vos has represented the 63rd Assembly district since 2005 and has been speaker for the last 10 years. However in recent years he’s frequently been attacked from the right wing of the Republican party over a perceived failure to go all in on 2020 election conspiracy theories. Supporters of Trump have called for the Legislature to “decertify” the 2020 election results, a move that is legally impossible, yet Vos has often been attacked for the decision not to move forward with decertification. 

In 2022, Vos nearly lost a primary challenge against him from Adam Steen, a 2020 election denier, sparking a write-in campaign for Steen in the general election. 

“This recall is a waste of time, resources and effort,” Vos said Wednesday in a statement. “I am confident that my friends, neighbors and supporters from Racine County will stand with me and ensure this effort fails to gain any real traction.”

Last month, Steen and another prominent election denier, Harry Wait, launched a series of television ads stating they’d move to unseat Vos if he didn’t take action on Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a frequent target of Republican attacks. 

Harry Wait, is one of Wisconsin’s most prominent 2020 election deniers. The leader of an organization called H.O.T. Government, he’s best known for facing criminal charges after filing absentee ballot requests on behalf of Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason in an attempt to expose alleged vulnerabilities in the absentee ballot process. 

Snorek’s filing Wednesday declares his intent to start gathering signatures to force a recall election. To trigger the recall, Snorek must collect about 7,000 signatures — 25% of the total number of votes cast in the 2022 gubernatorial election in Vos’ district. 

Under state law, Vos is allowed to raise an unlimited amount of campaign money to defend himself against the recall.