How Many Signature are Needed for a School Board Recall?

Overview

When a member of the community files The Intent to Circulate a Recall Petition, the filing officer needs to follow up with the number of signatures needed to trigger a recall (25% of the votes cast in the most recent governor's race in the district, Wis. Stat. §9.10(1)(b)). In school districts, this can be a complicated process since district boundaries often contain large areas and more than one municipality.

First, for any municipalities entirely within the school district, the clerk will need to look at the election results from the most recent General Election with a governor's race and determine the number of votes cast for governor.  These results can be found here:  https://elections.wi.gov/elections/election-results.  WEC suggests using the Ward by Ward report for the Governor’s race that is posted along with the other results on that page.
 
Next, if there are any municipalities partially in the school district, the clerk will have to use the calculation found in Wis. Stats §9.10(1)(c) to determine how to add those vote totals into the aggregate numbers.  We have provided an example of how these calculations work, but they are complicated so we suggest you consult with the school district attorney when determining these calculations.  

Applying the Formula

Clerks must determine, separately, the number of electors attributable to each municipality in the school district.  Here is an example using the Town of Chimney Rock and the Town of Clear Creek in Eleva-Strum SD for a recall request in 2021 (using the 2018 general election results).  For the sake of example, these are the only municipalities with school district territory.
 

Data - Town of Chimney Rock:

  • Area of the entire Town of Chimney Rock = 36.1 square miles (actual total sq miles)
  • Area of Eleva-Strum SD within the Town of Chimney Rock is 10 square miles
  • Number of electors of the Town of Chimney Rock that voted in the 2018 gubernatorial election = 113

 
The formula:

  • (Area of SD within town) 10   X  113 = 1,130
  • (Total area of Town)      36.1 
    •  1,130 / 36.1 = 31.301
      • 32 = the number of electors attributable to the Town of Chimney Rock.
        • 32 x .25 (25 percent of the vote cast for governor) = 8 (signatures required)

 
Data-Town of Clear Creek:

  • Area of the entire Town of Clear Creek = 35.9 square miles (actual total sq miles)
  • Area of Eleva-Strum SD within the Town of Clear Creek is 16 square miles
  • 358 electors of the Town of Clear Creek voted in the last gubernatorial election.

 
The formula:

  • (Area of SD within town) 16   X  358 = 5,728  
  • (Total area of Town)      35.9 
    •  5,728 / 35.9 = 159.554
      •  160 is the number of electors attributable to the Town of Clear Creek.   
        • 160 x .25 = 40 (signatures required)

Add these totals up and determine the 25% signature threshold required by law.

  • 8 signatures from Chimney Rock + 40 signatures from Clear Creek = 48 signatures needed for recall of an Eleva-Strum school board member

 

Subject
Recall