Washington: First signatures submitted against Yakima County Coroner

Petitioners have submitted their first batch of 1419 signatures for the recall effort against Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice (R), which has been approved by a judge. Petitioners need 14000 signatures toget on the ballot. 

Curtice is facing the recall effort (and calls for his resignation by the Yakima County Republican Party) after he admitted that he "was using drugs found on dead bodies and accusing his chief deputy of trying to poison him to cover it up." So far, no charges have been filed.

The first recall attempt against Curtice was rejected as factually and legally deficient, as it relied on news reports. Washington is a malfeasance standard state, so a showing of a statutorily delineated violation is needed. Here's a look at how the recall process works.

Nigerian Senator facing recall effort

Nigerian Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is facing a recall effort. 

New Jersey: Lumberton Township Mayor facing recall/resignation threats

Lumberton Township Mayor Gina LaPlaca is facing calls for a resignation or a recall after being arrested on a DUI with a child in the car.

North Dakota: Petitions taken out against Valley City Mayor and Commissioners

Petitions have been taken out against Valley City Mayor Dave Carlsrud  and City Commissioners Duane Magnuson, Mike Bishop, Jeff Erickson and Dick Gulmon. 

The recall effort is over alleged complaints about city projects and financial mismanagement, with a focus on the Public Works Service Center.

California: Poway Councilmember facing petitions

Poway Councilmember Tony Blain is facing a recall effort after his censure for claims of an attempted vote trade. There are also complaints of bullying, harassment, retaliation and bribery. Blain argues that contractors and developers are leading the effort. Petitioners need 2500 signatures to get to the ballot.

Poway recalled councilmember Betty Rexford in 2010. 

California: Rick Caruso opposes Los Angeles Mayor recall effort

Rick Caruso, the billionaire who ran and lost to Karen Bass in the mayoral election in 2022, has announced his opposition to a recall effort. However, that is a long way from announcing that he will not run in the replacement race. 

And here's an LA Times story with my comments on how a recall works.

Texas: Look back at the 1938 Fort Worth recalls

Here's a look back at recalls of Forth Worth's Mayor W.J. Hammond and five councilmembers (one by resignation) in 1938 back when the city had a population of under 180,000. 

The six had been elected in 1937 as members of the Peoples' Progressive League and faced the ire of the local business community. 

Montana: Canyon Creek Rural Fire District Trustee ousted

Canyon Creek Rural Fire District Trustee Richard E. Grady was kicked out in a March 18 recall election, 146-49. 

There seems to be complaints about the right to comment and other issues, including the hesitancy to accept a new fire truck. Apparently, most races are close, so the blowout was a surprise (though not to followers of recalls!). 

Alaska: North Slope Mayor facing petitions

North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Aullaqsruaq Patkotak is facing petitions over complaints over allegedly misusing funds for travel expenses for his family. Apparently, the salary for the position is over $280,000. 

This is the second petition filed, the first was rejected due to Alaska's malfeasance standard (which may not be in effect thanks to recent court decisions). 

In 2016, a previous Mayor, Charlotte Brower, was kicked out with a recall for sending her grandchildren to a basketball camp in California, among other issues.

Maine: Freedom Select Board Member and Blair Witch Project Star facing April 23rd Recall vote

Freedom Select Board member Heather Donahue, famous for her leading role in "The Blair Witch Project," is facing a recall vote on April 23rd over whether a road that a family has claimed has public access or not (Donahue has argued that it does). The petitioners are complaining that Donahue cut brush and trimming on the road and used orange spray paint to mark trees on the public easement. 

There are also issues of complaints about the old board (Donahue was elected last year), including late IRS payments and budget confusion, so this may be part of an old residents vs. new residents fight. 

Petitioners handed in 73 signatures and needed 46 valids.

North Dakota: Petitions taken out against Burleigh County Commissioner

Petitions have been taken out against Burleigh County Commissioner Brian Bitner over complaints about contempt for voters, though Bitner believes it is for other reasons that he does not specify. Bitner is the board chair and has been on the commission since 2008.

Petitioners need 12,858 signatures in one year.

California: Petitions taken out against Contra Costa District Attorney

The recall effort against Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton is moving forward, with petitions set to be filed this week. Petitioners seem to need somewhere in the neighborhood of 72,000 signatures in 160 days. 

Becton appears to be part of the progressive prosecutor movement, and is facing similar complaints to DAs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Alameda about a perception of a failure to prosecute different cases. We discuss the pushback here. Interestingly, Becton was listed as one of the opponents of Prop 36, which increased sentencing for drug and theft crimes and passed overwhelming. 

Becton has also been accused of demoting her last two opponent after her election and there was apparently a $2.2 million discrimination settlement against the DA's office (which her opponent was part of -- the alleged discrimination was against women). 

Here's some local reports on KRON4 and ABC7 where I am on discussing the recall effort. 

Minnesota: Supreme Court tosses out House recall efforts

No surprise here, but the Minnesota Supreme Court has tossed out the recall efforts against Minnesota's Democratic House Representatives and (presumably one of the Republicans), claiming it fails to meet the malfeasance standard. 

Here's (and above) is my article on how Minnesota's recall law works and why the state has only had two recalls go to the ballot since it adopted this version of the recall in 1996 (with one removal) and two resignations.

In addition to giving a full look at the full use of state legislative recalls in the US, the article looks at how malfeasance standard/judicial recalls work and why Minnesota has a particularly difficult one. There is one thing that I do not go into in the article, but I'll mention below. 

As mentioned in the piece, Minnesota is different than Washington State, another malfeasance standard state. Washington does not have a lot of recalls, but more than Minnesota, and many more are threatened. The difference may be that in Washington, the courts approve or reject the petitions before the full signature gathering starts. Here's where it gets strange. Minnesota's law for state level officials seems to be the same requirement, and occasionally that pre-approval seems to have occurred. But in practice, at least at the local level, the court seems to get involved after the signatures are collected and submitted. There are a number of instances of the "collect the signatures and then have the Supreme Court toss out recall" process. There's also a case in Red Wing where the council refused to schedule the recall and the matter seems to have been dropped (and another one in Blue Harbor without the signature verification). 

I don't know why Minnesota practice and law appear to be different at least for state and local officials, but it feels like this a critical question for recalls in the state. 

Tennessee: Knox County School Board member facing petitions

A recall effort has been kicked off against Knox County School Board Chair Betsy Henderson. Henderson is facing the recall over her push for school vouchers.

It is not clear if there can be a recall, as state law allows it only on a regular election ballot, not as a standalone special election. "The county charter doesn't specify whether special election can be called for recalls."  If there is no special, then the next election would ne in 2026, when the seat would be up. Henderson may run for mayor instead. Petitioners would need about 6000 signatures.

The lead petitioner, Phillip Sherman, ran against her in 2022. 

California: Two Beverly Hills School Board members face petitions

Petitions have been taken out against Beverly Hills School Board Members Russell Stuart and Sigalie Sabag following the resignation of the Superintendent and the restructure of administration and two schools. Stuart has also faced criticism for a social media post overlapping the D in the School District with DOGE.

Petitioners need about 4560 signatures. There would be no replacement whatsoever if they are removed. 

Update: The recall has been put on hold because it was put in too early.

Arizona: Santa Cruz Sheriff facing petitions

Petitions have been taken out against Santa Cruz Sheriff David Hathaway. Petitioners need 4567 signatures by July 2. 

The lead petitioner is the chair of the local Republican Party and a former volunteer with the search and rescue team. There's a kitchen sink list of complaints, but the focus seems to be withdrawing from a federal program paying for increased border patrol action.

Wyoming: Attempted recall of Opal Mayor fails due to impossibility of State Recall Laws

Very odd situation in Opal, where the City Attorney told the council that they could lead a recall of Mayor Mary Hall (who was recently appointed after the previous mayor resigned), though he was wrong. 

The Attorney believed that a recall was allowed, but found out that Wyoming's law only allows for recalls in governments with a commission-style (which is apparently none). 

It is an odd feature that the state allows recalls, but no one can access such a rule. 

Update: The City Attorney resigned 

North Dakota: Dickinson Commissioner easily survives recall vote

The bizarre recall effort against Dickinson Commissioner Jason Fridrich, in which no candidate put themselves on the ballot to oppose him, has ended, as Fridrich won the race 626 to 15 for write0in candidate Seth Hegelson (who led the recall effort).  

For some reason, no challenger has emerged in the March 11th  recall election against. 

 The recall is over a claim that he did not properly take the oath of office.

The ones against Mayor Scott Decker and Commissioner John Odermann failed. There is a question on how many signatures were needed due to whether to follow the ND Code or the Home Rule Charter. Dickinson's Home Rule Charter required 15% of voters versus 25% in the state Code.

Petitioners needed 724 for Decker and Odermann and 424 for Fridrich.

New York: New recall law bill proposed

There is a new bill for a recall law in New York state, sponsored by Assemblyman Chris Tague (R). The bill would only hit statewide elected officials, not legislators or local officials.

Taiwan: 37 recall campaigns move to second stage of signature collection

37 of the Taiwan focused recall campaigns have advanced to the next stage, with 33 KMT legislators, one independent legislator, a mayor and two city councilors moving forward. They will now need 10% of voters signatures in 60 days to go to the ballot.

Oklahoma: State-level recall bill passes Senate committee

The state level recall bill proposed by Senator Bill Coleman  (R) passed through the Senate comitteee 7-1. 

The recall has some unusual provisions, including have lawmakers start the process rather than have the signature gathering effort (which is the case for Illinois's gubernatorial recall).

The bill seems to be in reaction to School Superintendent Ryan Waters, who is calling for the election of district superintendents and has run into trouble on both sides of the aisle. 

Nebraska: Fort Calhoun Mayor facing petitions

Fort Calhoun Mayor Mitch Robinson is facing a recall effort over his support a plan to lease outdoor gun range space to Omaha's Police Department. There is already a recall vote to remove that specific provision. 

Alaska: Palmer Mayor recall makes the ballot for May election

The recall against Palmer Mayor Steve Carrington appears to have made the ballot, with the recall to be held in May. The recall appears to be over over a $75K severance payment to a city manager who served for 53 days. The complaint is focused on Open Meeting Act violations.

Three Palmer City Councilmembers were kicked out in a recall in 2022. The lead petitioner against the three councilmembers is also leading the effort against Carrington. Carrington was elected in 2022, but served for a decade on the council. Petitioners need about 58 signatures (25% of turnout -- though perhaps it requires all signers to have voted) in 90 days to get on the ballot.

Petitioners needed 71 signatures. No word on how many they got.

Arizona: Glendale Councilmember facing recall threats

Signatures are being collected for a recall of Glendale Councilmember Leandro Baldenegro over complaints about eliminating comments at the council meetings and voting demolish a library.

Petitioners need over 400 signatures to get on the ballot.

California: Lancaster Mayor facing recall effort from 2nd and 3rd place finishers

Petitions are being taken out against six-term Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris  The complaint appears to be partly about changing the term from two to four years -- though this was back in 2010 (it was a voter measure). Other complaints seem to be about a proposed project for the homeless and his comments about a purge and giving homeless free fentanyl. 

The lead petitioners appear to be two of the people who Parris beat in the election last year, Republican Mark Maldonado and Democrat Johnathon Ervin. Parris won (in a field of 10) 4763 to 3648 for Erivn and 3190 for Maldonado.

Colorado: Pueblo Mayor facing petitions

Petitions have been taken out against Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham 

The recall is about complaints of removing nonprofit funding, retaliation against opposition and spending too much time on social media during council meetings. 

Navajo Nation: Recall effort against Navajo Nation President failed

The recall effort against Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has failed, with petitioners handing in 11,193 signatures and needing 34,000 (45% of turnout in the past election). 

The recall was over a kitchen sink of complaints, including misusing funds, a revolving door and inaction on workplace harassment and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People initiative. 

The former Executive Director of the Division of Human Resources, who was fired in June, is leading the effort. 

Maine: Claims of online signatures against Governor, but state doesn't have a state-level provision

A change.org petition is claiming almost 28,000 signatures against Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) though obviously none of them are worth anything, as the online petitions do not count for recall or other direct democracy efforts (additionally, it is quite likely that many of the signers do not live in Maine.

As the article notes, Maine does not actually have a state-level recall law, so there is no possibility that Mills will be removed in a recall or that this will move forward.

The complaint is over women and transathletes issue. Mills recently got into a verbal scuffle with Trump, so that may be a part of this. 

California: Oakland/Alameda Recall Downballot Roll-Off Effect in Action

 

https://scocablog.com/the-downballot-roll-off-effect-in-action/

The downballot roll-off effect in action

by Joshua Spivak · March 3, 2025

Overview

The November 2024 election ballot in Alameda County saw an unusual occurrence: overlapping recalls of the Alameda district attorney and the Oakland mayor. Media coverage of these recalls portrayed those separate county and city contest results as being very similar. But a more detailed look shows a noted discrepancy in the vote totals among the Oakland voters who could cast ballots for both officials. Price did significantly better in Oakland than Thao, mainly because a significant number of the pro-Price voters did not also cast a ballot in the mayoral recall. This is probably explained at least in part by the fact that the district attorney appeared higher on the ballot than the mayor. This would be a stark example of how the downballot roll-off effect can impact lower-level races.

Analysis

Ballot design is a long-running theme in American politics

How to structure ballots and elections has been a long-running debate in American history.^[1] The original early-1900s Progressive movement promoted the short ballot, which was designed to remove some of the more obscure positions and transfer them from elected to appointed jobs.^[2] The movement tied this simplification to both longer terms in office and (more in theory than in practice) a recall to give voters an out.^[3] The arguments for a short ballot are bolstered by what has been called the downballot roll-off effect, which describes the steep falloff in votes for local positions listed below higher-profile contests, as voters only cast ballots for the top of the ticket and ignore the races below.^[4]

Another argument has attacked off-year elections, which posits that because turnout is particularly low for non-presidential election year races the system would work more effectively if elections were consolidated. Nationwide in recent years there has been a push against the spaced-out election day schedule, with some states prohibiting odd-year elections.^[5] Other states have taken similar steps such as banning recalls on a special election day.^[6] In a country where no one knows how many elected positions there are, figuring out the advantages and disadvantages of different dates and ballot lengths should at least be on the table.

The Price and Thao election results show the downballot roll-off effect

It takes a lot for a local race to become a national story during a presidential election year, as Alameda County did in November. It wasn’t a regular election, but rather the two recall votes against District Attorney Pamela Price and Mayor Sheng Thao that grabbed the spotlight.^[7] Alameda’s votes were the first since at least 2011 to feature recalls in overlapping local jurisdictions (not including the two gubernatorial recalls in 2012 and 2021). Both Price and Thao were viewed as being on the same side in local politics, and both were blamed for the same activating issue — the perceptions of high crime and lax prosecuting and policing standards.

The two recalls were joined on the ballot, but examining the numbers reveals a marked difference in their vote counts that in large part are likely explained by the fact that the two candidates were placed pages apart on the ballot. This is a good example of the downballot roll-off effect and it also may point to which type of voter is least likely to roll off.

At first glance, the election results seem very similar, with Price losing with a 62.92% vote against in the county and Thao being ousted by 60.62% against in Oakland. But isolating only the overlapping voters in Oakland (by far the biggest city in the county) shows a different story. Price was on the ballot’s third page, while Thao was on page eight — or ninth since one of the pages was blank. Price lost Oakland with 53% of the vote against her, 84,165–74,260. But Thao lost by a much larger margin, with 60% of the vote, 86,535–56,220.^[8] There was a 15,000+ vote or 10% difference between the two races in Oakland, all on one side. Presuming that this is the same pool of voters, and assuming that anyone who supported one candidate supported the other, between 13,000–18,000 Price supporters dropped off and did not vote for Thao (2370 switched sides).^[9] This shows that one side of the contest, the Price–Thao supporters, did not vote downballot.

Other possibly influential factors

Of course there are some differences between these two recalls. Price’s recall received much more attention, partly from the heightened attention caused by the backlash over the progressive prosecutor movement that led to San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall in 2022. The Price recall was also an extended affair thanks to an unnecessary and unusual set of delays caused by the legislature, the county supervisors, and election officials — it took over 18 months to get the Price recall before the voters. Thao’s recall was comparatively quick, with stories only starting to appear about 10 months before Election Day. The Price recall received more attention over a longer stretch of time, which partly explain the higher vote count in her contest.

There also were differences between the likely bases of support for the respective officials. As Mayor Thao received criticism on a wider range of local issues than Price did with her more focused one-issue job of prosecuting crime. And Thao endured negative publicity related to an FBI raid on her home that had no analogue in Price’s recall. Far more money was spent on the Price campaign, although neither effort saw much in the way of spending after getting on the ballot.^[10] In fact, there were numerous lawn signs printed that simply said “no on recalls” and did not even specify the targeted candidates. Contrast that with the county supervisor race, which represents only one-fifth of the county, and which generated a flood of expensive mailers and supervisor-related YouTube ads on both sides of the supervisor race. Mail and internet advertising on the district attorney recall was sparse at best.

The extra attention paid to the district attorney recall could have been offset by the fact that the mayor is a more high-profile and impactful position than a prosecutor, though that does not seem to be the case this year. In general, it seems odd that voters would focus on the district attorney rather than the mayor. As a point of comparison, in both candidates’ hotly contested original victories in 2022, the variance in Oakland between the district attorney (133,636) and Oakland mayor (133,527) race was a mere 109 votes. Yet in the 2024 recall election the district attorney got 15,000 more votes in the same district. The added attention appears to have helped increase votes in the 2024 race.

Roll-off happens even when the vote is for the same candidates right next to each other on the ballot. The race for California’s U.S. Senate seat saw Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey running in both the general election for the full six-year term and in a special election to finish the last weeks of Dianne Feinstein’s term.^[11] The difference between the two races was less than 1% —but that does mean that over 300,000 voters statewide chose to vote in the regular race but ignore the special election race. Schiff did slightly worse in the special election than the general, but his total fell off by just 0.12%.

Finally, another factor besides the difference in place on the ballot may have influenced the discrepancy between Price and Thao: voter anger may create greater interest in ensuring that roll-offs are a lesser effect for pro-recall forces. For example, in November 2008 Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon faced both a recall and a reelection run; the recall would only be for the remaining two months of the term. Dillon won his reelection race 27,864–14,311 and beat his recall (which was much further down the ballot) 23,987–14,257.^[12] Once again, the drop-off is not evenly distributed. The kick-Dillon-out side lost 54 votes, less than one percentage point. The keep-Dillon side saw a 3,877 vote decline, or 14%. The roll-off was negligible for the pro-recall forces, but significant for the elected official.

This roll-off effect may explain another odd effect of recalls. Voters appear more likely to eject an official when the recall is paired with a general or primary election than as a standalone special election (67% versus 57%).^[13] You’d expect those numbers to be reversed for several reasons: standalone special elections should more likely lead to an ouster because of a movers’ advantage; the recall proponents just spent significant time running a signature gathering effort; it’s the only political hot potato at the time; and a smaller and more motivated number of voters would be focused on the contest. Instead, that anger may lead to staying focused on completing the full ballot line.

Conclusion

The question of how long or short a ballot should be has been a source of debate since the original Progressive era in the early 1900s. Weighing those alternatives requires balancing the value of greater democracy in choosing candidates against the challenge of giving voters too many choices to make, leading to roll-off. This is a policy choice with competing imperatives, a balancing act with no right or wrong answer. The Alameda and Oakland recall results, with their marked relative drop-off in votes in comparable contests, are an example of the downballot roll-off’s effect and a reminder to be mindful of the long ballot’s disadvantages.

—o0o—

Joshua Spivak is a senior research fellow at the California Constitution Center.

1. Congressional Research Institute, “How the Secret Ballot Ended the Gilded Age.” ↑
   

2. Marshall, Short Ballot Needed to Simplfy American Politics, New York Times (Dec. 14, 1913) at 14. ↑
   

3. Farmer, “Power to the People: The Progressive Movement for the Recall, 1890s-1920.” The New England Journal of History, Winter 2001, 59–83. ↑
   

4. Goldstein and Roman, “Downballot roll-off: Lopsided roll-off among major parties may be linked to downballot losses,” Sister District Project (Sept. 14, 2022). ↑
   

5. Fischer, “New AZ law limits city elections even-numbered years, 2 days per year,” East Valley Tribune (May 14, 2012). ↑
   

6. Michigan Bureau of Elections —Legislative Update(Jan. 23, 2013) at 6–7. “Special recall election dates for local officials are limited to regular May and November election dates.”Before the new Michigan law the recalls were held on standalone special election dates. ↑
   

7. Qin and Rodriguez, Oakland’s Mayor Had Enough Troubles. Then the F.B.I. Came Knocking, New York Times (June 24, 2024). ↑
   

8. Alameda County District Canvass (Certified Results) November 5, 2024 at 123 for Price, at 251–52 for Thao ↑
   

9. Ibid. ↑
   

10. Finney and Green, Who’s Paying for the Campaign to Recall Alameda County DA Pamela Price? These Charts Break It Down, KQED (Oct. 22, 2024); Wolfe, Hedge Fund exec bankrolling Oakland Mayor recall shifts focus to down-ballot races, Oaklandside (Nov. 1, 2024). ↑
    

11. California Secretary of State, Statement of Vote November 5, 2024 at 6. ↑
    

12. Wayne County November 8, 2008 General Election Results. ↑
    

13. Spivak, What Recalls Tell Us About Regular Elections, Governing Magazine (Feb. 24, 2024) ↑

Colorado: Three Palmer Lake Trustees facing petitions

Petitions have been taken out against Palmer Lake Trustees Shana Ball, Kevin Dreher and Dennis Stern. 

The issue appears to be the construction of a travel center (restaurant) on the highway, with the land annexed to the town. The complaint seems to be about traffic.