The State Journal’s Footnote will try to explain the often heard, but perhaps not widely understood, phrases, ideas and controversies in the news. It runs weekly on Sundays.

Q Tuesday’s spring election will bring a lot of voters to the polls. Can the people who are trying to collect signatures to force recall elections against numerous state senators be at the polling sites with their petitions?

A Yes, it is permissible to circulate a petition within 100 feet of the entrance to a polling place as long as it is unrelated to the election at hand and there is no attempt to influence that day’s vote, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

However, some rules apply. In a memo to election clerks last week, the state board said petition circulators should not solicit signatures from voters in line or stand in or block the entrance to the polling site.

Circulators also should not petition people in the immediate voting area or within the building containing the polling place, as that is “inherently disruptive,” according to the memo.

“Election officials should order persons petitioning inside the building to leave the building,” the memo says.