Recall Delivers 16,000+ Signatures

Recall supporters today turned in more than 16,000 signatures asking for Andrew Hamilton to be recalled from the Lake Forest City Council. The numbers exceeded expectations and they were turned in early before the expiration of the 4 month deadline.

“We are confident that among the 16,000+ signatures we have much more than the 8,834 signatures required by the Registrar of Voters to certify the recall” said Larissa Clark, a long time Lake Forest resident and the leader of the recall effort (Larissa is pictured along with Josh Vizcay)

The next step will be for the City Clerk to count the signatures and then send them to the Registrar of Voters who will check names, addresses, and signatures and verify each one. The process may take as long as a month. In addition, there are some anti-recall signatures which also must be verified. In this case, if someone signed the original petition, and they signed the anti-recall petition, their names will be withdrawn. But if they didn’t sign the original petition, their signatures will be ignored. In the end, the number of verified signatures which were not withdrawn must exceed 8,834 for the recall to be certified. Once certified, the City Council must meet and then set a special election within 88 to 125 days

In 2016 recall supporters submitted 8,228 signatures to recall Hamilton of which 6,690 were verified. FWIW – 6,690 signatures were more than Hamilton’s vote count (6068) when elected in 2014 but the recall supporters failed to meet the 7,882 requirement and the recall failed. The 81% verified figure (6690/8228), if applied to the current 16,304+ signatures means the current recall would probably have 13,206 verified signatures. This means the anti-recall petitions would need to have 4,000+ signatures from people who signed who later changed their minds. In 2016, the anti-recall people managed to submit a mere 43 signatures that were verified. We don't know how many anti-recall signatures are valid this time, but the total submitted was 2,268.

Generally speaking, recall petitions need 125% of the required number to succeed through the verification process. On this basis, the recall would need 11,043 signatures to achieve 8,834. With 16,000+ they seem to have the numbers in excess.

At great expense Hamilton’s supporters conducted a very aggressive campaign, lying about the costs of the special election which they falsely claimed would cost as much as $450,000 (Click Here). They even argued that Hamilton was up for re-election this year, so his fate could be decided in a few months. (Click Here). They falsely claimed Hamilton was a fiscal conservative and said he saved the city millions by voting to stay with the county animal shelter, when in fact the decision to stay with the county cost the city over $750,000 more (Click Here). At no time did they refute any of the 40 reasons to recall Hamilton (Click Here) which included –

• Conduct unbecoming an elected official, like threatening residents with Police action, putting them in time-out, cutting them off in mid-sentence, etc.
• Lack of compassion, like voting to prevent Meals on Wheels from operating inside the City.
• Lack of concern for the City and the people like missing far more events and official activities than anyone else
• "Phony" Conservative values as when he voted bonuses to staff, refused to cut the fat from the budget, and ultimately cost the City millions in lost savings and excess spending.
• Conflicts of interest, such as voting 100% of the time for any person or company who gave his campaign money.

During the time that the Registrar of Voters is certifying the petitions, Hamilton has the option to resign which means the recall effort will not cost the City anything. Every day that goes by the Registrar will charge $3.40 for each signature checked. If Hamilton waits until the final count, the cost to the city will be $54,400 (including $6,800 for his anti-recall signatures). At that point, the City will be forced to conduct a special election which may cost an additional $125,000 according to the City Clerk.