Update: One Calaveras Supervisor Recall Fails, Two To Go
Update at 4:49pm: A recall effort against Calaveras County District 2 Supervisor and Vice Chair Jack Garamendi has apparently failed to gather the required signatures to force an all-mail August election.
In an official release by Garamendi, he states that today a victory for the residents of District 2. He described the effort as a tactic to intimidate and pressure him during the debate on cannabis regulation.
Continuing, Garamendi maintains, “The failure of this recall is a rejection of the divisive and dirty politics being played in Calaveras County. The recall proponents, led primarily by persons who do not live in the District 2 that I represent, knowingly based their campaign on outright lies, assuming the residents of District 2 could not distinguish between fiction and reality. This recall effort was run by a radical fringe group and was a coordinated effort to intimidate me and other Supervisors who did not support their position on cannabis.”
He adds, “These bully tactics will never succeed and we will not be driven by fear or hate from single-issue special interests. I will not back down from my duty protect the citizens of District 2 and this county. I will continue to strive to make our county safe, healthy and prosperous. It is my hope that now, we can all move forward with current county business.”
Original Post at 4:16pm: San Andreas, CA — With less than an hour left before today’s 5 p.m. deadline, Calaveras County Clerk-Recorder Rebecca Turner had not yet received recall signatures from petitioners seeking to recall District 2 Supervisor and Vice Chair Jack Garamendi.
As reported here, the original intention of recall notice was initiated last October. Turner says that if the packet is not submitted by the close of business, the petitioners would have to restart the process, an endeavor that would take anywhere between three to six months.
If it does come in, the county would ostensibly plan for a possible August all-mail election. “We have the 30 days — and to be honest we are right smack dab in the middle of the June election process on our side — so we could likely take the full 30 days to process it,” Turner explains.
The first order of action for her staff would be to count the total number of signatures submitted to see if it exceeds the required minimum of 1,319, which would then trigger the process to verify that each signature matches to a District 2 registered voter name with a corresponding address that matches the information in the Elections Office database.
As reported here, recall efforts are in process against two other county supervisors: District 1 Supervisor and Chair Gary Tofanelli, for which a minimum of 1,396 signatures are due by June 28; for District 4 Supervisor Dennis Mills, the petition requires a minimum of 1,555 signatures by June 6. If either or both are certified those measures would be able to be placed on the November ballot.
As far as the June election goes, Turner shares that vote-by-mail ballots, already printed for mailing to overseas voters, will be showing up in local mailboxes by around May 10. She adds that poll workers are particularly needed to help out in Valley Springs and West Point. For more details, call the Elections Office at 754-6376
