California: Santa Ana City Council recall still on, though petitioners had old maps for district

The Santa Ana City recall of City Council member Jessie Lopez ran into new complications, with claims that the petitioners and city used old maps of the district, which Lopez supporters and the Registrar of Voters claim should have led to the recall being thrown out ahead of the November 14 vote. The City Council deadlocked, which will let keep the recall on track -- let's see what happens when they go to a judge.

Not the first hiccup in this recall. There were significant delays on scheduling this for the ballot, as Lopez's allies on the council had refused to set a date for the recall. As opposed to other states, this isn't a big deal, as the Registrar of Voters simply scheduled a date for the recall if the council can't get it together. 

Petitioners handed in 6617 signatures were either handed in, with 1333 knocked out (395 duplicates). So 5284 were validated and they needed 5274. Additionally, 129 people asked for their name to be removed under the signature strike law. 

There was also a petition outstanding against councilmember Thai Viet Phan.

Therecall efforts was led by the police union over a labor contract. The contract reportedly doesn't met the union pay-raise proposals. The recall chairman cited a 2021 rent control policy as the reason for the recall. The recall effort comes after progressives won four council seats in 2020. 

The union backed a 2020 recall vote against Council member Cecillia Iglesias, who was kicked out.

The election would cost between $230-$255,000, though new reporters are saying that it would cost between $607,000-$666,000.