Daily Recall Roundup: June 4

Every day between now and Tuesday's gubernatorial recall election, Patch will provide daily updates on what's happening on the campaign trail.

Check back with this column throughout the day for the latest recall-related news.

3:35 p.m.: US Department of Justice Will Monitor Wisconsin on Tuesday

A team of special agents from the Division of Criminal Investigation and assistant attorney generals will head to Wisconsin on Tuesday to ensure make sure everyone complies with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlaws discrimination in the election process based on race, color or membership in a minority language group.

“The June recall election is a significant event in our state's history,” said state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen (R) in a press release. “The people of Wisconsin need to have confidence that their rights are being protected and the laws are being followed."

3:15 p.m.: More Than 206,000 Absentee Ballots Issued as of Noon Monday

The Government Accountability Board has released an update on the number of absentee ballots issued for the June 5 recall election. As of noon Monday, a total of 206,128 were issued by Wisconsin's election officials who use the Statewide Voter Registration System. That's 33 percent more than the number of absentee ballots cast in the May 8 recall primary election. 

However, only about one-third of municipalities use this system to track absentee ballots so there could be a substantially larger number. 

8:50 a.m.: Walker, Barrett plan busy days

With one day to go before the historic recall election, Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Tom Barrett will be crisscrossing the state looking for votes.

Walker will be touring five Wisconsin businesses today: Placon Plastics in Fitchburg, the Coulee Region RV Center in West Salem, J & D Manufacturing in Eau Claire, Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point, and the Green Bay Distillery in Green Bay. He will cap his long day with a election eve rally slated for 10 p.m. at Serb Hall in Milwaukee.

Barrett will meet with voters today at the Jules Coffee shop in La Crosse, the Dish and the Spoon Café in River Falls, the Trig Food store in Rhinelander and the Portage campaign office. Barrett will end the day with a 6 p.m. rally UAW Local 72 Hall in Kenosha.

8:35 a.m.: Feingold to make appearances for Barrett

Former U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold will be making three campaign stops on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett.

Feingold will appear at 1:15 p.m. at the AFSCME offices, 8033 Excelsior Dr., Madison; at 4 p.m. at the Brown Deer recall office, 8550 W. Brown Deer Rd.; and at 6 p.m. at the UAW Local 72 Hall, 3615 Washington Rd., Kenosha. He will be joined by Barrett at the final stop.

7:40 a.m.: New poll shows race tightening

A poll released late Sunday by Public Policy Polling shows that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has narrowed the gap a bit in the gubernatorial recall race against Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

PPP's final poll on the recall shows Walker leading Barrett by 50 percent to 47 percent — a 3 percentage point margin. That's down from a 5 point margin on a PPP poll conducted three weeks ago and it's also down from a 52 percent to 45 percent lead that Walker posted in a .

Amond independent voters, Barrett is leading by 48 percent to 46 percent, the poll says.

The polling firm says the main reason that Barrett trails Walker is that Republicans are more motivated to get to the polls on Tuesday than Democrats.

“What’s going to determine Tuesday’s outcome is pretty simple,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, a firm affiliated with the Democratic Party. “If Democrats turn out in the same numbers that they did in 2008, Tom Barrett will win a surprise victory. And if they don’t Scott Walker will survive.”

PPP surveyed 1,226 likely voters on Saturday and Sunday. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

The Huffington Post reports that 15 surveys on the recall election have been released over the past month, and while most have produced close results, all but one have given Walker the advantage. Independent polls have generally given Walker a bigger lead than the handful of publicly released internal polls sponsored by the Barrett campaign or its Democratic allies.

With all polls included, including the internal surveys by the Democrats, the HuffPost Pollster chart of all available Wisconsin surveys gives Walker a lead of 2.8 points (50.3 percent to 47.5 percent). With the Democratic campaign polls excluded, however, Walker's lead grows to 3.9 points (50.6 percent to 46.7 percent).

7:30 a.m.: Jesse Jackson urges blacks to 'march your souls to the polls'

In a last minute push to garner more votes, the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition held a rally in Racine Sunday night that drew about 100 people.

The Racine NAACP hosted the event. Organizers say the upcoming election on Tuesday is “too close to call,” and Jackson came to town to persuade African-Americans to vote.

“Martyrs died for the right to vote,” Jackson told the crowd. “You can march your souls to the polls and vote on Tuesday. We demand to have our right to vote protected, we will vote on Tuesday with our hopes and not our fears.”

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