MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Election Commission announced this week that the effort to recall four Milwaukee Public School Board Members failed.
According to the Election Commission, the group turned in 2,805 pages. However, it wasn’t enough to recall any of the board members.
Questions about the submitted signatures are being raised by community members and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA).
TMJ4 started to investigate the signatures and addresses that were submitted on August 12th.
We started by looking through the submitted documents that are public record. Those documents can be found here.
We looked at the signatures that various community members questioned.
We went to about fifteen addresses listed on multiple pages including:
· 5700 W CENTER STREET
· 3640 N 47TH STREET
· 5041 N 46TH STREET
· 4713 N 46TH STREET
· 4714 N 46TH STREET
· 4778 N 46TH STREET
· 4522 N 46TH STREET
· 4508 N 46TH STREET
· 5706 N 41ST STREET
· 4303 N 65TH STREET
· 4002 N 67TH STREET
· 3435 N 60TH STREET
· 2440 N 39TH STREET
· 5336 N GREEN BAY AVENUE
· 2467 W CUSTER
Some of these addresses don’t exist and some people didn’t answer their doors.
TMJ4’s Megan Lee spoke with some neighbors and homeowners while trying to track down who signed the petition. Some homeowners said the name signed wasn’t theirs. Meanwhile, neighbors confirmed that certain addresses didn’t exist.
Watch: TMJ4 looks into the signatures on the submitted MPS recall petition
Neighbors near 2440 N 39th Street said the house is vacant.
"Years, years, my niece and nephew say about 10…I say about longer than that," neighbor, Patrice Smith explained.
Lee took some questions to Dr. Tamika Johnson. She is one of the petitioners for the recall.
"All those other signatures, I have no idea who the people were out collecting the signatures. You will have to talk to the petitioner who went in with them to turn them in,” Dr. Johnson said during a phone call Wednesday evening.
She explained that the recall group started to split up towards the end of July.
“Those signatures don’t concern me because they were not the group of people that I had out volunteering,” Dr. Johnson explained.
According to Dr. Johnson, she and Nikki Johnson submitted 750 signatures on August 12th to the Milwaukee Election Commission.
Lee decided to go to one of the listed circulators' addresses. However, the only address close to the one listed was an empty lot.
Dr. Johnson said she plans to have a press conference to address concerns and questions soon.
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