What the recall election results could mean - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

Eau Claire (WQOW) - There's been a lot of talk about what the results of Tuesday's recall elections mean for the state and for the country.

Wisconsin has been in the national spotlight this year with statewide protests over collective bargaining rights and budget cuts. Some viewed Tuesday's elections as a referendum on Governor Scott Walker himself. He can't be potentially recalled until next year.

One local political analysts views it more as an referendum on the issues and recent changes in the state.

"I think, if anything, this a referendum mostly on Act 10--the issue regarding state employee unions, teachers unions and things like that," says Geoffrey Peterson of UW-Eau Claire. "Whether you want to call that a referendum on the governor or a referendum on the Republican control of the state legislature, I think really it's mostly a referendum about public employee unions more than anything else."