Hagerman City Mayor Alan Jay survived a recall vote, 116-129. The complaints seem all over the place, including a Covid pandemic issue, but the focus seems to be about enforcement of the city codes and alleged misappropriation of funds.
Idaho requires the vote in favor of the recall to top the number of votes Jay received when he won office -- so that is 162 (First Past the Post would not have been enough), so the recall sounds like it was unlikely to succeed.
Nampa School Board member Mike Kipp survived a recall vote 436-497 (46.7% - 53.3%). This is another rejected effort over hybrid learning. Kipp was criticized for his support for hybrid learning in order to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The complaint seems to be hidden behind a general argument of a lack of representation.
As noted earlier, Idaho Falls and Pocatello-Chubbuck School Board Members are facing a March 9th recall.
All three Pocatello/Chubbuck School Board Trustees, Jackie Cranor (677-708) Janie Gebhardt (674-959) and Dave Mattson (782-1055), survived the recall vote.
The recall was over the board's decision to continue a hybrid learning model in order to ward off the coronavirus pandemic. The petitioners wanted full-in school model. There is also complaints about a boundary issue and a decision to retire a Native American mascot.
Idaho has what I call a "Queen of the Hill" requirement, where the recall needs to top the vote of the last time the official was up for a removal (so no first past the post win). Last time, Cranor got 279 votes, Mattson 278 votes and Gebhardt is 417.
Both Horace Council members David Fenelon and Bryan Schmidt were ousted in recall votes on Tuesday (no word yet on the total). Naomi Burkland, and Jeffrey Trudeau are reported to have replaced them. The recall was over rising special assessments and a more general complaint about not representing the popular interests (the city is apparently growing).
The results seem to be Burkland 376, Trudeau 317, Fenelon 212, Schmidt 210 (and losing candidate Zachariah Lee, 96).
Petitioners are claiming that they have 1.950 million signatures
Bernie Sanders comes out against the recall effort
Newsom announces sports reopening
Republicans looking to raise false alarms about signature removal -- here's my comments on this. I do wonder if there's some "working the refs" involved here.
March 9th is the recall election against Pocatello/Chubbuck School Board Trustees Jackie Cranor, Janie Gebhardt and Dave Mattson. Idaho has a absence veto requirement, so petitioners need to top the vote of the last time the official was up (so no first past the post win). Cranor got 279 votes, Mattson 278 votes and Gebhardt is 417.
The recall is over the board's decision to continue a hybrid learning model in order to ward off the coronavirus pandemic. The parents wanted full-in school model. There is also complaints about a boundary issue and a decision to retire a Native American mascot.
Today is also a recall vote against Hagerman City Mayor Alan Jay. The complaints seem all over the place, including a Covid pandemic issue, but the focus seems to be about enforcement of the city codes and alleged misappropriation of funds.
Idaho requires the vote in favor of the recall to top the number of votes Jay received when he won office -- so that is 162. So just First Past the Post finish will not be enough.
We'll be seeing a recall today (March 9th) for Horace Council members David Fenelon and Bryan Schmidt. The two are facing three challengers, Naomi Burkland, Jeffrey Trudeau and Zachariah Lee. The recall is over rising special assessments and a more general complaint about not representing the popular interests (the city is apparently growing). This will be a special election.
There's a significant spending issue in the recall effort against Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch. Developer Bill Gallagher is reported to have spent over $295,000 on the recall effort, which is way over the county's limit of $3350 for individual contributions (there is no limit for a state recall effort, but county's are able to put forward their own limit). Gallagher's lawyer claims the law is unconstitutional and has said that such laws have been struck down in other jurisdictions in the state.
The recall effort is led by the owner of two senior care homes where 20 residents were abandoned in a fire when staff fled. The Oakmont Senior Living company settled for $500,000. The petition attacks Ravitch for ignoring fire safety issues. Petitioner would need about 30,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Ravitch has already announced that she is not running for reelection.
A new attempt to recall Berthoud Trustees Maureen Dower and Jeff Hindman over complaints about negatively impacting the relationship with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, especially regarding the Black Lives Matters protests, a decision to stop printing notices in the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor (calling it biased) and for a vote to fund a Park and Recreation Center using certificates of participation.
A former Sheriff's deputy and former Mayor Steve Mulvihill are among the petitioners.
Petitioners need 304 signatures for Hindman and 420 for Dower in 60 days.
Petitions have been taken out against Rio Blanco County Commissioner Gary Moyer over complaints of verbally abuse and misusing his power against employees, as well as trying to eliminate the Dispatch Center and a lack of transparency.
Petitioners need 747 signatures in 60 days. This is apparently the first recall attempt in Rio Blanco County history.
The recall effort against Taiwan Legislator Chen Po-Wei (pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party) is advancing to the second stage. Petitioners handed in 3744 valid signatures and needed 2912. Petitioners now need to get 29,113 signatures in 60 days. A vote would require 25% turnout (72,281) to succeed (as well as actually winning that vote).
Chen is the first member of his party to win a seat, beating a local dynasty in 2020.
South Dakota is looking at adopting a recall law by initiative -- unfortunately the article is paywalled, so I can't really see it. Interesting enough, South Dakota was the pioneer in direct democracy, but never took the recall on statewide.
Petitioners claim they have 1,927,000 signatures
The Orange County move to blue proves ominous for recall proponents -- the Davis recall got 73% of the OC vote; now, polls show the recall losing in the former GOP stronghold 48-52%
Kern County has 48K signatures
School deal unlikely to help Newsom -- though it is only talking about petitioning. Will voters remember when September ends?
Chico School Board President Eileen Robinson and members Kathleen Kaiser, Tom Lando and Caitlin Dalby are facing recall petitions after voting in February to continue the distance learning programs in order to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Petitioners have handed in enough valid signatures for the recall of Kingman Mayor Jen Miles. They handed in 1512 valids, and needed 1384. The recall is over a vote to continue the mask covering requirement to combat the coronavirus pandemic until October 20, 2020.
No word on the recall efforts against Councilmembers David Wayt, James Scott Stehly, SueAnn Mello Keener and Ken Watkins, though petitioners had an extra week to hand those in, so it could be we are waiting (petitioners need 1438 signatures for the council members). Two other councilmembers who voted against the protective mask requirements are not facing recall efforts.
The City Council still has to schedule the date of the election.
I wrote this op-ed for Arkansas Money & Politics. The history is quite a bit more interesting than I realized. Arkansas adopted the recall and then had it thrown out on a weird technicality in 1912. The state rejected the recall (as a small part of a package increasing terms to four years) in 1932. And the Little Rock School Board recalls were probably the most famous ones of the Civil Rights Era.
Hagerman City Mayor Alan Jay is facing petitions over complaints about enforcement of the city codes and alleged misappropriation of funds. The article's not clear, but it sounds like they have signatures and the election will be held on March 9.
Idaho requires the vote in favor of the recall to top the number of votes Jay received when he won office -- so that is 162.
David City Mayor Alan Zavodny is facing a petitions over his support for a mask mandate. Zavodny is in his third term. The mandate, which ended in February, was only in effect for 90 days.
Petitioners need 275 signatures (35% of turnout) in 30 days.
The recall effort against Douglas County School Board members Susan Meek, Elizabeth Hanson, Christina Ciancio-Schor and David Ray has been suspended by the lead petitioner. The recall was over a vote to postpone a classroom return due to the coronavirus pandemic. That decision has since been changed to allow a classroom return.
One parent was putting up $100,000 for the recall effort. The petitioners needed about 15,000 signatures for each official.
