“Recall is the power of the voters to remove elected officials before their terms expire. It has been a fundamental part of our governmental system since 1911 and has been used by voters to express their dissatisfaction with their elected representatives.” California Secretary of State
On Tuesday (July 25) supporters of the recall of Andrew Hamilton submitted 16,304 signatures to the city clerk (Click Here). Supporters of Hamilton submitted a mere 2,268. Both sets of documents were submitted to the Registrar of Voters (ROV) on July 26 and the ROV has 30 days to report whether or not the net signatures for the recall exceed the 8,834 requirement (20% of the registered voters at the time the petition was started). If they do, the City Council must meet within 14 days and set a date for a special election, which must be held between 88 and 125 days of the certification
HAMILTON’S RESIGNATION
If Hamilton resigns before the signatures are verified, the city will not have to conduct a special election. If he resigns after the count is official, the special election must be held.
Each day that Hamilton delays resigning costs the city more than $2,500 because the city is charged $3.40 for each signature that the ROV verifies. Ultimately the ROV has 18,572 signatures which means that the city will spend $63,144.80 on the verification process.
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COSTS
As noted above, if Hamilton doesn’t resign, the cost to the City for verifying the signatures will be $63,144 and the costs of a special election are estimated at between $125,000 and $150,000.
(Hamilton’s supporters claimed that the recall would cost the city as much as $450,000, and that is clearly false.)
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TIMELINE
Because the timeline is flexible, and depends on how quickly the signatures are verified, how quickly the Council meets, and how quickly the Council sets an election, it’s nearly impossible to give a likely date. But using the extremes, the special election, if held, would happen sometime between December 2017 and February 2018.
SPECIAL ELECTION
The special election, if held, will ask 2 questions.
- Part 1 – Shall Andrew Hamilton be recalled from the office of City Council member?
- Part 2 – If he goes, who should replace him?
The second part of the ballot will consist of the names of people seeking the office. The process for getting elected to the council remains the same (Click Here). Once the City Council sets the date for the election, the dates for registering to run for election will also be set.
Hamilton may not be a candidate to replace himself.
HAMILTON’S REPLACEMENT
The person replacing Hamilton, either by appointment or by election, will serve out the remainder of Hamilton’s term which expires in 2018.
Whether or not the person can run for re-election in 2018 will depend on the district that the person lives in. The city is changing to district elections and at this time it’s impossible to predict whether or not the person who replaces Hamilton will live in a district that is up for election.
