LAKE COUNTY – Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said she has not heard anything from the union as of yet, and first heard about the recall effort from someone who came to the counter asking about it.
Fridley said in order to recall a supervisor, a special election would be held, similar to the 2003 recall of former California Governor Gray Davis. Each supervisor would be treated separately in the recall effort, should it come to fruition.
Fridley said she”s seen several attempts at recalls that didn”t make it through the entire process, most of those around elected officials other than the county Board of Supervisors. The last Lake County Supervisor to be recalled, and the only one Fridley knew of, was former Dist. 1 Supervisor Robert M. Jones in 1978.
As for the cost to taxpayers for a special election, Fridley wouldn”t estimate that. She said a statewide election costs the county over $100,000, and involves staffing all of the county”s polling places and printing and distributing numerous ballots. Davis” recall election cost the county $105,718, according to Fridley”s records.
For a special election, there would be one ballot for each supervisor in each district. Each party – in this case, CUHW and the supervisor in question – would have 200 words to explain their position. On the same ballot would be a yes/no question of whether or not to recall a particular supervisor, and an option to vote for other candidates.
In order to get to that point, though, 20 registered voters” signatures per district would need to appear on a notice of intention for each district in which a supervisor is targeted in the recall. That notice of intent would include up to 200 words of explanation about the reason behind the recall, and would then have to be served to each individual supervisor. The supervisor would then have time to respond in 200 words.
The petitions for each district in question would need 25 percent of its registered voters to sign in order for the recall to go to vote. Based on information reported Feb. 10, Dist. 1 would need 1,697 signatures, Dist. 2 would need 1,298 signatures, Dist. 4 would need 1,580 signatures and Dist. 5 would need 1,529 signatures.
Doubt has been expressed by several over whether or not the recall would make it to ballot by June, when supervisors Rob Brown, Anthony Farrington and Ed Robey are up for reelection.
“There could be a special election before June,” said Freeman, saying he fully intends to carry it out. “It will be much harder to run against a recall than it is to run in a reelection,” he added.
Freeman noted that he fought former Governor Davis” recall in 2003. “I learned more from the lack of success than if we had been successful,” he said. “This is not about a personal issue with any of the board members, it”s a collective issue about what”s good for the people who have decided they need change. They”ll decide the issue.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
