By M.D. Kittle and Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — This could get expensive.

Election officials from Wisconsin’s most populated cities and counties sound sure of two things concerning the uncertain days of recalls ahead: The elections would be costly, potentially running into the millions of dollars, and they’re going to chew up a lot of time during a busy presidential election year.

“It will just be nonstop” in 2012, said Sue Edman, executive director of the city of Milwaukee’s Election Commission.

Wisconsin’s municipalities and counties have budgeted for four elections in 2012 — the spring primary, Feb. 21; the regularly scheduled spring election and presidential primary, April 3; the state primary for the fall election, moved up to August; and the general election in November.

Most of the state’s largest counties and cities, however, have not budgeted for a spate of potential recalls, according to an analysis by Wisconsin Reporter.

“Our hands are full, so actually we’re not even thinking about (a recall election), because we don’t have time,” said Sandy Juno, chief deputy clerk for Brown County. “If (a recall election is scheduled), we’ll deal with it.”

She anticipates Brown County’s recall price tag could approach $200,000 per election — primary and general election — should opponents of Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch gather the nearly 1.1 million signatures combined required in forcing recall elections. That estimate includes the cost to Brown County and its 24 municipalities.

Organizers of the recall campaigns, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and United Wisconsin, a liberal political action committee, said they had collected more than 105,000 signatures through the first four days of the initiative, which began Nov. 15. That information could not be verified independently .

In total, 10 of the 15 most populated counties project spending more than $844,000 combined on just one general recall election next year, according to Wisconsin Reporter’s analysis. That spending figure nearly quadruples based on the potential of four statewide recall elections in 2012, between primaries and general recall votes.

Accessing the costs

Reid Magney, spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, or GAB, the state agency that oversees campaigns and elections, reiterated Monday that recall elections would not be scheduled for the April election.

“It is very difficult to line up a recall election with an existing election; there are so many moving parts,” he said.

Magney last week told Wisconsin Reporter it would probably be May at the earliest before a recall election would be scheduled.

The recall campaign has until Jan. 17 to deliver its petitions, opening a signature vetting process by GAB and the incumbents that is expected to extend beyond initial 31-day review period. Court challenges are anticipated, pushing back primary and general election schedules well into spring.

And the challenges could be on varying timelines, meaning Walker and Kleefisch wouldn’t face recall elections at the same time.

GAB, at the request of the Legislature, has asked local elections officials to provide projections of the costs of recall. In a memo late last week to the Legislature, GAB said it will need at least $652,699 to pay for its portion of the recall expenses, including bringing in some 50 temporary workers to vet the signatures, and the cost of additional office space, supplies and equipment. About $250,000 would go to public information related to Wisconsin’s new Voter ID law.

Magney said the projections from local elections officials are expected to come in by the end of the month. He said the board has made no estimates of the costs.

“I’m comfortable waiting the two weeks it’s going to take to get that information and present it to the Legislature,” he said.

‘Can’t say no’

The generic projection is that the cost of administering the recall elections will run into the millions of dollars. The top populated counties and municipalities bear out that contention.

The city of Milwaukee is looking at a total price tag of $1 million, should there be two separate primaries in the governor and lieutenant governor races and two separate general recall elections. Edman projected the cost of each election at around $250,000, between staffing the necessary 1,500 poll workers and maintaining the voting machines.

Wisconsin’s largest city counts 312,000 registered voters, and 183 polling sites.

Taxpayers in Milwaukee County would pay about $150,000 for a general recall election, and about $103,000 for a primary, said Lisa Catlin Weiner, Milwaukee County Election Commission administrator.

Like most county elections officials in the state, Catlin Weiner said her budget does not include funding for recall elections, but that is the cost of doing democracy.

“They can’t say, ‘No, we can’t hold this election, because we don’t have the money,’” she said of a county that faced significant budget shortfalls.

Still, the election official noted, she could not request funds for a recall election that may never be.

At least one county has budgeted for the potential.

Dane County Clerk Karen Peters told Wisconsin Reporter that $157,390 has been budgeted for recall elections, for the cost of printing ballots.

County board members “understand it’s an election, and we have to have it,” Peters said.

The city of Madison estimates its cost for a regular recall election would run between $250,000 and $300,000.

Democracy isn’t free

Several elections officials told Wisconsin Reporter that they did not have a handle on the possible costs, adding that too many variables exist.

“There’s a lot still to be figured out,” said Lauri Marenger, Green Bay city clerk. There, too, is the matter of redistricting, the new political boundaries set by the majority party Republicans and disputed in court.

But if this past summer’s Senate recall elections are any indication, the bill will top $40,000 per election for Green Bay taxpayers. The summer recalls saw incumbents, Republican Robert Cowles and Democrat Dave Hansen, both of Green Bay, victorious in staving off challengers to unseat them.

The Senate recall elections earlier this year cost taxpayers statewide about $2.1 million, according to GAB estimates, a fraction of the estimated $44 million candidates and special interests dumped into the campaigns.

While the election calendar could be nonstop for election officials, Rock County Clerk Lori Stottler said she’s willing to pay that price.

“I can’t see it happening any other way but through the process of voting,” she said, estimating the cost in Rock County at around $38,000 for a election. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes, whether the signatures come through or not.”