Michigan: Plymouth Township recall effort rejected by board on clarity grounds

Sounds like they can easily change it, but one of these days I should try to come up with a number on how many petitions are sent back for clarity/factualness.

Idaho: Bonner County Clerk facing criminal charges over actions in failed school board recall

Bonner County Clerk Ann Dutson-Sater and Deputy Clerk Charles Konrad Wurm are facing criminal charges over what is believed to be their actions in the failed recall of Lake Pend Oreille School board member Steve Youngdahl.

Dutson-Sater said in an email that she allowed a recall backer to sign off on the petitions "without realizing that he wasn't the one who gathered all the signatures," indicating that the oversight was an error rather than an attempt to subvert the law.Dutson-Sater believes the investigation began when Youngdahl's supporters pushed for charges against one of the recall's architects.

The clerk's office certified last year that recall backers had obtained the necessary amount of signatures to trigger the election. But the Idaho Secretary of State's Office later ruled that the signatures had to be submitted all at once rather than in stages, which derailed the recall.

Minnesota: Duluth City Councilor notes that recall effort not likely to clear malfeasance standard

Duluth city councilor Sharla Gardner claims that the recall effort over the decision to close Park Point fire hall is baseless and won't survive a challenge. She's probably right, as Minnesota is a Malfeasance Standard state. 

Ohio: Richmond Heights Mayor now being sued

Richmond Heights Mayor Miesha Headen, facing an upcoming recall vote, is now being sued by her former special assistant for defamation for claiming that she used a city car for four days.

Michigan: Plymouth Township Amphitheater results in petitions

Plymouth Township's attempt to build a $350,000 amphitheater  are now on hold as four members of the board are targeted in a recall for the vote. Supervisor Richard Reaume, Clerk Nancy Conzelman, Treasurer Ron Edwards and Trustee Kay Arnold are being threatened.

Canada: British Columbia Liberal MLA faced with recall threats

B.C. Liberal MLAs are facing threats of recall over a teacher's contract fight. However, this article notes the challenges of getting a recall on the ballot:

Since the recall legislation came into effect in the 1990s, there have been 24 applications for a recall campaign filed with Elections B.C. Only a handful got off the ground, and all failed miserably (one was withdrawn after the MLA in question quit).
The bar for recalling an MLA is rightly set very high. For a recall petition to succeed and force a byelection, 40 per cent of the registered voters in the riding in question must sign the petition within 60 days.
In a number of B.C.'s ridings, the number of signatures required actually exceeds the number of people who actually voted, in total, in the last provincial election.

and 

For such a campaign to succeed, 14,226 people in his riding must sign a petition within two months. To put that in perspective, slightly less than 18,000 people in total even voted in Surrey-Fleetwood in the last election (including 8,200 for Fassbender).

Michigan: Can recall petitioners serve as poll workers?

Here

Missouri: Call for a recall of Ferguson city council/mayor

This may be a much tougher road than Charles D. Ellison sets out in The Root. Ferguson does have a recall law which seems to set no limits on the use of the recall (a political recall law). Ellison doesn't make that claim -- he cites Missouri law which would seem to trump the local provision. Missouri is a Judicial Recall/Malfeasance Standard state -- recall petitions must show a cause to get on the ballot. It's not totally clear that this view of state law trumps (I've seen some Missouri recall petitions that did not make a malfeasance claim), but there certainly is a good chance he is correct and Missouri law would rule the day.

Ellison argues that this wouldn't be a problem:

Missouri state law is actually gift-wrapped to give everyone in Ferguson a very important and lasting structural solution to their problem, since the criteria for a recall are fairly straightforward and even conveniently nebulous, if anyone has to play semantics with the enraged Missouri rednecks who would likely go ballistic if this route were taken: “misconduct in office, incompetence and failure to perform duties prescribed by law.” 

If Ferguson’s current government doesn’t fit the criteria above for a recall, I’m not sure what does.

Based on what we've seen of recalls in judicial recall/malfeasance standard jurisdictions, I would say Ellison is being too optimistic about the state courts' willingness to accept this criteria. In the past three years, there has been only one recall that took place in Missouri. There have been other cases where recall were tossed for not stating a claim). In other states with a malfeasance standard, judges may take a hard line on what qualifies as malfeasance (though violation of open meeting laws  qualifies). It is not clear from the article what Ellison thinks should be the specific action cited. Incompetence is probably a high hurdle (here's one time it was used successful) and judges aren't exactly looking to cite officials for misconduct and failure to perform.

It could be that the Missouri Election Commissions and courts would accept a petition against the Ferguson officials. But based on other states understanding of the standard, it is going to be a real challenge for any petitioners to pass the first barrier to success.

Kansas: Humboldt School Board facing petitions

Humboldt School Board members are facing recall petitions for a number of issues, most prominent among them the accusation that they took personal trips with school funds. Sounds like a PE teacher firing might also be involved.Board President Curt Mueller is one of the members facing recall. I'll have more names later.

California: Alisal School Board Member Ousted

Alisal school board Trustee Meredith Ibarra has been kicked out of office by a 71.7-28.2 percent. Turnout was 17%. Estrella Thoeni, the only candidate, will replace her.

Michigan: Benton Harbor recall decision appealed to Supreme Court

Looks like the Court of Appeals decision rejection of the recall (based on tossing out both of the signatures of double-signers of the petitions -- as opposed to just the extra signature) will be challenged at the state Supreme Court level. Stay tuned. In 2011, the Michigan Supreme Court had ruled in favor of a recall against House Rep. Paul Scott, so late breaking developments from that front are nothing new.

Michigan: Court of Appeals stops Benton Harbor mayoral recall

Big development here -- the Benton Harbor recall of Mayor James Hightower is once again off, as the Michigan Court of Appeals held that any one who signed the recall petition twice should have both of their signatures removed. The court rejected a lower court ruling, which itself overturned a ruling by Berrien County Clerk.

Michigan: Sewer support leads five Ontwa Township members to the polls in November

Five Ontwa Township Board members will be on the ballot in November over their support for a sewer plant.  Supervisor John Brielmaier, Treasurer Meryl Christensen, Clerk Paula Ralph and trustees Norman Krupp and Nathan Brousseau are facing recalls. Two other trustees are not. All seven are Republicans. Petitioners needed 457 signatures per. They appeared to get about 680 per.

Michigan: Blackman and Pulaski Township recalls on the ballot

Blackman Township trustees Betty Brockie, Mark Singer and Pulaski Township supervisor Robert Jones will all be facing recall votes in November. The Blackman Township team is being attacked for pay raises for members of the board. The two candidates against Brockie and Singer had to decide who would run against who. Brockie and Singer are Republicans, so this recall does have a partisan tinge.

Jones had seen three previous recall attempts, but this one finally got the language approved and on the ballot. This was related to the firing of Township Fire Chief Ken Watson.

Jones is a Democrat, and he actually beat his challenger, David White, in 2012, 476-402.

California: Alisal school board trustee facing recall threats from supporters of board member who is up for recall in September

Alisal school board Trustee Guadalupe Guzman brought by the supporters (or the family) of Meredith Ibarra, a fellow board member who is facing a recall election in September.  The claims seem to be that the board has not been agressively investigating the superintendent, who is facing a sexual harassment case.

Op-ed on the proposed Alberta, Canada recall

I wrote this one for the Medicine Hat News.

California: Sunnyvale Councilman facing recall effort

Sunnyvale Councilman Patrick Meyering is facing a recall that has been signed by four former mayors. He has also been censured by the city council for what other council members are calling "performance art" meetings.He has also been accused of revealing confidential information and refusing to sign the council's code of ethics.

Petitioners need 8200 signatures by September 17 (the recall is estimated to cost $700,000). 

California: Newark Superintendent controversy leads to one resignation, one recall attempt

Two Newark School Board member have received recall notices, with one, Gary Stadler, resigning. The other, Ray Rodriguez, is hanging on and also running for mayor.

The recall started after Superintendent Dave Marken resigned following criticism from Stadler and two other trustees (not including Rodriguez). One of the other trustees is up for reelection in November, the other is not seeking reelection.

Rodriguez noted that he did not oppose Marken, though he apparently voted to reject an offer to rescind the resignation. The board refused to detail that vote until there were accusations of violating the open meeting law. Petitioners need about 3,000 in 120 days.

Wisconsin: Cleveland Supervisor survives recall recount

Joe Egloff won by three votes, a lead that was cut down to 2 in the recount.

Utah: Petitions out against Grand County Council Chairman

Grand County Council chairman Lynn Jackson is facing a recall threat over his perceived stifling of public debate, especially in regard to a vote of whether to join the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition. Petitioners need 580 signatures. There has been some discussion on whether the Democratic Party in the county is pushing the recall, which Democratic leaders wholly deny.