California: Two Orange Cove Council members facing recall votes tomorrow

Two Orange Cove Council members are facing a recall vote on November 6.Here's the previous coverage

Nebraska: Superior City Council member facing recall vote tomorrow

Superior City Council member Carrie Lemke will be facing a recall vote tomorrow. The issue is support for a nuisance abatement program, which some residents consider a violation of privacy. The recall targeted four members of the council, but only Lemke's got the signatures.

County Sheriff Jerry Archer and County Attorney Patrick Duncan are also facing recall threats.

Arizona: Maricopa City Council member resigns

From last month, Maricopa City Council member Alan Marchione resigned on Oct. 4 in the face of a just started petition period. The recall effort was started after Marchione alleged sexually harassed and threatened city staffers' jobs.

Oregon: Clackamas County/County Clerk facing recall petitions after temporary worker accused of tampering with ballots

Clackamas County County Clerk Sherry Hall is facing recall threats after allegations that ballots were tampered with in order to add votes for Republican candidates.


Hall has run into a number of problems in the past as an election administrator (which are listed on the side of this article). In this case, a temporary worker is accused of tampering with ballots to cast additional votes for Republican candidates in Clackamas County, which is a swing area.

Louisiana: Melville police chief facing petitions

Melville Police Chief John McKeel is facing petitions, with one resident claiming that he failed to adequately investigate attacks and threats to her family members.  The petitioner claims that she has gathered 250 of the 360 (which is 40 percent of the town's registered voters). Petitioners have until December 16.

Texas: Paper recommends yes vote to change College Station recall to malfeasance standard

Here

Michigan: Flint Mayor who resigned in the face of a recall unveils statute of himself

The mayor was Don Williamson. Here's the story.

California: Petitions handed in for three Coastside Fire Protection directors

Petitioners have handed in signatures for the recall of Coastside Fire Protection District President Doug Mackintosh, Director Mike Alifano and Director Gary Riddell. They need 2,714 signatures for each. 3,290 signatures were collected to recall Alifano, 3,366 signatures were collected for Riddell and 3,327 were collected for Mackintosh.
The special election, if it takes place, will cost $120,000.

New Mexico: Raton recall not getting signatures

The attempted recall of Raton’s four city commissioners, which had 68-78 signatures knocked off, has seen only seven of the people whose signatures were removed asked about reinstatement (four of them had their signatures restored). The petitions need 21 signatures or more.

Maine: Peru voters to decide on recall provision

Peru voters are set to decide whether to add a recall provision for local officials. The recall would exempt school board members. It seems like it would require a malfeasance standard, though no word on the signature requirements.

North Dakota: Mayor of Bottineau kicked out

This one is from June. Mayor Douglas Marsden was kicked out of office, with a vote of 483-238. Marsden and a city councilman who resigned were accused of disrupting the city`s business and inappropriately awarding city contracts.

Georgia: Fayette County Board of Education petitions on hold till ruling from AG

The recall of Fayette County Board of Education member Bob Todd is on hold until the Georgia AG signs off on all the signatures for the original petition. After that petitioner still needs to gather over 21,000 valid signatures in 45 days, and then prove misconduct.

The alleged misconduct is that Todd criticized the Superintendent and told someone that he would lose his job.

Rhode Island: Woonsocket voting on recall

The town of Woonsocket is set to vote on adding a recall provision.

The law would require signatures totaling 10% of registered within 60 days.

Kansas: Baxter City Council members being investigated before recall

The recall of three Baxter Springs City Council members has now taken another turn. The Kansas Attorney General is investigating the city council for the alleged open-meetings violations. The recall will be Tuesday.

Michigan: Troy councilman calls for yes vote on Mayor's ouster

Here. The city councilman claimed that a bizarre reading of a Distinguished Citizen Proclamation to former City Councilmember Mary Kerwin (and a Democratic state House candidate) precipitated his endorsement. You can see the video here.

Texas: Sinton recall petitions ruled invalid

A petition to recall Mayor Eloy Lopez, Linda Guzman-Alaniz and Michelle Soliz was tossed out, with the judge knocking out only 21 signatures on the three petitions combined (they needed 500). Sinton was one of the cities that refused to put the recall on the ballot.

Two of the petitions were five signatures short and the other was six signatures short. The recall started due to a botched attempt to fire the City Manager and city secretary.

Read the piece, as there are real questions here:

Arnold Govella, attorney for the petitioners, asked the judge to dismiss the city’s case Wednesday, stating that the city did not have jurisdiction to file the suit on behalf of the three council members affected because the recall election would not harm the city. 

Govella said he’d never heard of a city intervening on behalf of elected officials in a case like this.

Kansas: Luray Mayor facing recall vote on Election Day

Mayor Chuck Pyle is facing an attempted recall due to allegations that he allowed advertisements to be inserted in June city utility bills and allowed a city utility account to miss a payment.

Pyle claims that the issue was a city council vote to close a portion of an avenue for a ministry which is looking to create a college for missionaries and a place for summer Bible camps.

California: Moreno Valley School board member who faces manslaughter, pimping and rape charges will not face recall

Moreno Valley school board member Mike Rios, who has been charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter, rape, pimping, pandering charges, is not going to face a recall vote on November 6. Despite the charges, the recall group failed miserably in collecting signatures. They needed 9,266 valid signatures to qualify. One of the members said they collected 500.

Rios is set for trial on Jan. 14.

Here's the quick write up of the the charges:

In April, Rios was charged with pimping, pandering and rape. Prosecutors allege he persuaded or encouraged four women and two underage girls to work for him as prostitutes. Rios also faces attempted voluntary manslaughter charges. He is accused of shooting at two people who he said followed him home after a confrontation at a Moreno Valley bar.

California: Santa Maria-Bonita School District Recall Missing signatures by at least 586

The attempt to recall Santa Maria-Bonita School District board member Will Smith failed to get enough signatures. Petitioners gathered 4,383 signatures, but they needed at least 586 more (plus the likelihood of failure for many of the signatures pushes that total up.

USA Today and the bloodbath of local politics

This touches on the Quartzsite, Arizona recall, but represents a good look at bitter battles in local politics.