UPDATE: Walker Recall Petition Signatures Now Online

Update Jan. 31, 2012: Digital copies of the signed petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker have been posted online. 

The Government Accountability Board announced its decision Tuesday, after earlier saying it may not publish them, due to concerns raised by people who signed the petitions. 

Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel for the GAB, said all 153,335 pages of PDF copies of the petition will be posted online, but they won't be in a searchable database.

GAB staff, Judge David Deininger, and the Board chairperson decided to release the petitions under Wisconsin law and a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Doe V. Reed after a number of people had raised safety concerns. The decision focused on releasing referendum petitions in Washington state, but the Wisconsin Department of Justice supported the decision.

“In the interest of full transparency, the Board has always planned to release copies of recall petitions to anyone who requested them, and to post them online,” Kennedy said.  “However, we recently heard from a number of people who are concerned about their personal safety if their names and addresses are made public.  As a result, our staff had to do a thorough analysis under Wisconsin’s Public Records Law.  These are serious issues which must be given thorough consideration and addressed in light of the Statutes and the responsibilities of the Board.”

UPDATE Jan. 30, 2012: From the G.A.B.: "Governor Walker's recall petitions will not be posted online today. The G.A.B. staff is evaluating the privacy concerns of individuals who have contacted us about posting the petitions online. We will not have further comment tonight."

Patch media partner Fox6Now.com has a video report including footage from weekend events in which Republican volunteers scrutinized the recall petitions for potential errors or fraud.

UPDATE Jan. 29, 2012: The recall petitions for Gov. Scott Walker will be posted on Monday, said officials with the GAB. We'll post them as soon as we see them.

Original Story: Curious who signed the petitions to recall Wisconsin's state legislators? The Government Accountability Board has made it easy.

The GAB has posted thousands of pages of recall petition signatures on their website. So far, the tens of thousands of signatures collected to recall Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Sens. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), Pam Galloway (R-Wausau) and Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls) have been posted. The more than 1 million signatures submitted to recall Gov. Scott Walker and more than 800,000 submitted to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch are expected to be posted once all the signatures have been scanned.

To see the posted signatures, click here.

Organizers for the Wanggaard recall claimed last week they had collected 24,000 signatures on 4,000 pages. Organizers said they submitted more than 20,000 signatures to recall Fitzgerald, and more than 21,000 each for Galloway and Moulton.

Kevin Kennedy, the director of the GAB, said last week that temporary workers were hired to start scanning the petitions at an undisclosed location. People can view this process on a live webcam. 

If you find your name on a petition and it's not supposed to be there, please call the GAB office at 1-866-VOTE-WIS.