Monday, July 12, 2021

Washington: Seattle City Council member signs petition seeking own recall in order to get recall scheduled

Big move in the recall effort against Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant (the first socialist elected to Seattle's council in 100 years), as Sawant signed the petition herself. Sawant wants to get the recall on the ballot to coincide with a regular election day, which (in this theory) will help push Savants supporters to vote. 

Petitioners would need 10,739 signatures by October 19 to get on the ballot. August 1st seems to be needed to get the Election Day recall. 

Washington is also a "malfeasance standard/judicial recall state" though the State Supreme Court upheld a lower court judge ruling approving the recall effort. Two of the six charges were dismissed sat the lower level. Sawant would be the first councilmember to face a recall in Seattle's history (though two Mayors were kicked out).

The recall effort was over a kitchen sink of complaints, including revealing the mayor's home address, giving decision-making authority to Socialist Alternative (which has been a complaint against her before, though it was dismissed by the Ethics and Election Commission), promoting a ballot initiative, letting protesters in City Hall after hours and helping to create a criminal environment.

Update: The petitioners are the only ones that can turn in the signatures, so I'm not sure how this will work.

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