Out-of-state signature gatherers aided Nicholson ballot effort
In his campaign to claim the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate, Kevin Nicholson has been the beneficiary of immense out-of-state support.
National groups back him and an Illinois businessman, Richard Uihlein, has thrown millions into the race to get Nicholson elected.
Well, it turns out there’s even an out-of-state angle to getting Nicholson on the ballot.
Nearly three-quarters of the signatures turned in by the Nicholson campaign were gathered by seven people who don’t live in the state.
In all, the Nicholson campaign turned in 3,906 valid signatures. Of those, 2,791 signatures were gathered by seven out-of-state circulators.
It’s perfectly legal, but just a tad unusual. “Paid staff circulated petitions like every other campaign in Wisconsin,” said Nicholson campaign strategist Brandon Moody.
Three of Nicholson’s out-of-state signature gatherers were from Florida, including former campaign manager John Vinson. Others came from Illinois, Alabama, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
The Nevada resident, Josh Heilman, collected the most signatures, 623. The Pennsylvania resident gathered 28 signatures and is a Nicholson friend who served with him in the U.S. Marine Corps.
By comparison, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin turned in 13,000 signatures, with three out-of-state circulators collecting 27 signatures.
Nicholson’s Republican rival, Leah Vukmir, turned in 4,000 signatures, all of them gathered by Wisconsin residents.
“It’s not surprising given that much of Nicholson’s support and his endorsements have come from out-of-state that his signature gatherers would as well,” said Jess Ward, campaign manager for Vukmir.
Each candidate had to obtain a minimum of 2,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
Richard Strohm, a conservative activist who has endorsed Vukmir, filed a complaint with the state Elections Commission alleging all the signatures gathered by the out-of-state residents should be thrown out because they didn’t live in the state and weren’t qualified to vote here.
However, state law says people from other states can gather signatures in Wisconsin provided they would be eligible to vote if they were a resident of the state.
The Elections Commission, which consists of three Republicans and three Democrats, will meet Monday to consider the challenge.