Illinois: Referendum started for Chicago Mayoral Recall law

A new push is on to put a referendum on the November 5 ballot to adopt a Mayoral Recall law in Chicago. Petitioners would need 56,464 signatures by August 5. 

California: Calexico Councilmembers trailing badly in recall votes

Councilmembers Raul Urena and Gilberto Manzanarez  appear to have lost their April 16 recall election (it was a special), though new votes can be coming in. Right now, Urena is losing 2774-974 and Manzanarez is down, 2709-1022, both losing with more than 72% against. 

The issue is a claim of poor leadership, though one of the big issues is that Urena was Calexico's first transgendered mayor and has pushed for progressive-focused policies. 

Mayor Gloria Romo, who is an ally of Urena and Manzanerez) has been served with recall petitions as well moments after taking the job. 

The Los Angeles Times has a deep look at the Calexico recall fight (with some of my comments included).

Louisiana: Petitions taken out against St. Tammany Parish Coroner

Petitioners have been taken out against St. Tammany Parish Coroner Christopher Tape, who refused to step down before his term begins. 

Petitioners are now claiming that they will start a recall effort against him. The recall is over sex abuse allegations that were dismissed in 2003 over a claim of a violation of a right to a speedy trial. Tape was fired by the previous coroner over claims of violating the confidentiality policy.

Petitioners need more than 38,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

10 years ago, St. Tammany Parish Coroner Peter Galvan resigned during recall efforts over theft.

California: Alameda District Attorney recall makes the ballot

It looks like the recall is a go in Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, though let's expect a bumpy ride ahead. Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced that the petitioners got enough signatures to make the ballot. Petitioners handed in 123,374 signatures and got 74,757 valids. They needed 73,195.

First, a word on the success (or failure) rate. The 60.5% validation rate seems low and we have not seen a breakdown yet. But (from what I've heard) it appears that the reason for the failures may be due to the Alameda charter law that requires signers to state an occupation. So it may be under normal rules, the signature total would be much higher, which would limit a lawsuit here. 

Unfortunately, the press release also doesn't explain why they tossed out signatures (which is pretty critical). Price's team was discussing a challenge over out of district signature gatherers (banned by the county law). The problem is that a Supreme Court decision, Buckley v. ACLF seems to wipe out that provision. Note that recalls are considered a ballot measure by California rules (though not by any case that I know of -- the question is an important for campaign finance issues). 

Also unknown is if Price's team would try to use signature strike effort, whereby signers can withdraw their signature from the petitions (that law was adopted in 2017). This is not provided for under the old charter, but it would be interesting to see if they would try it. The existing charter also has a 10 day cure period (the language is unclear) if the signatures don't meet the requirements, so if there is a challenge, the petitioners would presumably be able to try and get more signatures. 

There are other possible challenges that could be made. Alameda Charter required that the signatures be fully counted in 10 days. The county used a statistical sampling method, which the state law for localities (though not for state-level officials) allows for the sample method, Alameda does not seem to have any such provision. Alameda's Measure B, adopting this law (full discussion of what the law does here), but it seems like it was not  operative for the counting. It's not clear to me why they were allowed to do the sampling method, but it's possible that no one will challenge, so that is that. 

There are other areas for potential lawsuits, including when the recall will actually be scheduled and whether or not there is a replacement race or instead that the Supervisors appoint a successor. This depends on whether or not Measure B or the old charter is the operative law. But let's see what happens 

Michigan: Flint Councilmember not running to defend seat in recall election on May 7

Flint Councilmember Eva Worthing has announced that she is not running in the upcoming recall (May 7th) and will be replaced by one of the other candidates running. The recall, which is part of internal battle in the council, with numerous recalls filed, though only Worthing got to the ballot. 

Worthing called out four other councilmembers, led by Eric Mays, against whom there were recall efforts. The four were Dennis Pfeiffer, Eric Mays, Jerri Winfrey-Carter and Tonya Burns (recall were filed against Pfeiffer and Mays).

The recall is over claims that Mays and another councilmember called a meeting that they others did not attend over the question of applying for a community grant program funding. Mays has also been charged with disorderly conduct for conduct at the council meetings that has apparently gone viral.

There is also claims about approving a Brownfield Plan.

Four recall efforts have been filed against Flint Council President Ladel Lewi. Two were filed against councilmember Judy Priestley (with two filed against Priestly). Former Council President Allie Herkenroder already announced that she was resigning her seat last year. 

Florida: Signatures handed in against Coral Gables mayor

The first round of signatures have been handed in against Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, with 1719 handed in and they need 1649 (5% of the registered voters). If they pass, they will need another 5000 to get through the second round of signatures. 

The recall is over the firing of the City Manager and complaints by a commissioner of a "cesspool of public corruption." Lago opposed the ouster of the City Manager. An election last year of two opposition Commissioners has put Lago on the outs with the majority of the commission.

Lago has been the subject of Miami Herald investigative pieces of his ties to a developer who is the subject of federal investigations.

Louisiana: Elton Mayoral recall to be held on April 27

After multiple lawsuits, the recall election against Elton Mayor Kesia Skinner-Lemoine will be taking place on April 27. The issue is a claim of election irregularities and fraud.

This recall effort is following the failure of the first attempt at recalling, which collapsed in spectacular fashion, with only one of the 322 signatures handed in approved. In the second effort, petitioners handed in 252 signatures and got 249 valids. They needed 245 valids.  A judge has once again rejected the attempt to toss out the election

Michigan: Hillsdale Mayoral recall effort ends

The recall effort against Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford has ended, with the petitioner rescinding her efforts. They would have needed 620 signatures to get to the ballot. The reason was because he votes against street projects. 

Washington University of St. Louis: Speaker of Student Union Senate survives recall

 The Speaker of the Washington University of St. Louis Student Union Senate survived a recall vote (53.12% in her favor), with high turnout. The recall was over claims of abuse of power and a culture of fear. She posted numerous anti-Semitic and anti-Indian comments.

Harvard: One Undergraduate Student ousted in recall vote

One of the two HUA (Harvard Undergraduate Association) co-presidents was ousted in a recall vote, 1549-211, with 88% voting for removal. The turnout was much higher than the regular election the week before (305 more votes).

The recall effort was after he was expelled from a club; Not sure what the other one is about. Apparently, Harvard has a rule that a position can face only one recall per term, which is interesting in that this is a "co-president" position.

Wisconsin: Election Commission reports Assemly Speaker Vos recall fails

The first recall attempt against Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has failed, with the Wisconsin Election Commission announcing that the recall would have failed under either his new or old district (see below for a discussion).

The petitioners needed 6850 under the old district, and they got only 4989. In the new district, they needed 7195 and got 3053. The Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to rule on which district counted. They apparently handed in 11000.

Petitioners have launched another recall effort.

The Wisconsin Election Commission previously announced that the first recall will not make the ballot, as petitioners seem to have fallen 945 signatures short.  

The Daily Kos has a good explanation for the challenge of deciding what district Vos is a part of (this is after the old districts were tossed out by the State Supreme Court). 

Vos, a long-time fixture of this blog, is facing the recall over his refusal to support Trump during the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results and the decision to drop impeachment efforts against Wisconsin's Election Commission Chair Meagan Wolfe as she has refused to push for the discredited claims of election fraud.

Vos almost lost in 2022 after refusing to back the election fraud claims. Former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who has previously targeted Vos, had called for his recall if he didn't support the impeachment of Wolfe. 

California: Los Angeles Times deep dive on Calexico recalls

The Los Angeles Times has a deep look at the Calexico recall fight (with some of my comments included).

Former Mayor (it seems like they switch the position among city councilmembers), Councilmember Raul Urena and Gilberto Manzanarez (who was named Vice Mayor) have a recall that has been set for April 16.

The issue is a claim of poor leadership, though one of the big issues is that Urena was Calexico's first transgendered mayor and has pushed for progressive-focused policies. 

Mayor Gloria Romo, who is an ally of Urena and Manzanerez) has been served with recall petitions as well moments after taking the job. 

Kosovo: April 21 recall of mayors leads to debate over law

A bit confusing here, but it looks like there is an attempt to recall mayors in the northern area of Kosovo on April 21, though there is some battle between the Prime Minister and a the chief of the Srpska Lista party, Zlatan Elek over the vote. Apparently, more than 50% of voters have to vote for removal. 

Update: Western embassies seem to be weighing in and calling on voters to vote in the recall and not boycott it.

History of the Recall Election -- Did San Diego have the law before Los Angeles?

I'm not sure why this didn't get posted three years ago, but better late than never.

As we've discussed before, it is believed that the recall returned to America's political stage in 1903, when Los Angeles adopted the law for their charter (the vote was actually on December 1, 1902, but the State legislature ratified it on January 22, 1903). However, there has been reports that other jurisdictions' had the law before. Thomas Cronin mentions that some other localities in California had it before (hat tip to this article from Rod Farmer), though he did not remember what they were. But none of the contemporary writers seemed to mention them. 

In this article about recalls in Raleigh, North Carolina, Gerry Cohen discovers that San Diego had it in their 1889 charter. Note that Bird & Ryan mention that San Diego adopted the law in 1905, so I cannot explain this discrepancy. It's another one of those mysteries surrounding the recall.