Scott Walker Supporters Take Up Effort to Write in Gov's Name in Democratic Primary

Supporters of Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker are attempting to spoil the recall effort against him with a campaign to get voters to write the governor's name in as a candidate in the state's Democratic primary to seek an opponent for him.

Walker opponents officially filed petitions last month to force a recall election in an attempt to oust the governor from office.

According to the Menomonee Falls Patch, the write-in effort started as a conversation on Facebook, but in little more than a week the page "Operation: Write in Scott Walker in Democrat primary" garnered more than 900 "likes."

"If we can gain a majority of the votes in the [D]emocratic primary we will have defeated the [D]emocrats at their game and save [sic] the tax payers millions of dollars," the page states. In addition to Wisconsin-related news, recent postings on the page include anti-Obama and anti-Nancy Pelosi links.

Such a write-in effort is possible under Wisconsin's open primary system, which allows voters to vote in a party's primary even if they do not share its political affiliation.

Still, it's not clear what would happen in the general recall election if the effort were successful, the Patch reported, and the Government Accountability Board -- the body overseeing the recall effort -- would not speculate.

“The law requires a space for write-in on the ballot,” spokesman Reid Magney said. “Beyond that, it would be premature for us to comment on something that involves so much speculation.”

John Willock, a volunteer with Friends of Scott Walker and a fan of the write-in page, said the plan is getting a lot of buzz.

“I go from one side of the state to the next during my work day, and I’ve heard people talking about it from Racine to Eau Claire,” Willock said. “It’s not really an organized effort, but there’s a lot of people talking about it.”

Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Graeme Zielinksi dismissed the chance of any kind of Walker write-in campaign succeeding, telling the Patch his first reaction to it was "Surprise, then laughter."

“Republicans seem frightened by democracy and the will of the people and, given what Scott Walker has done to ruin Wisconsin, they should be,” Zielinski said.

As The Blaze previously reported, efforts to recall Walker stem from anger over his successful move to effectively end collective bargaining rights for most public workers.