PROCEDURE FOR RECALLING LOCAL OFFICIALS

PROCEDURE FOR RECALLING STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS
Prepared by the Office of the Secretary of State
Revised 2007


recall

PROCEDURE FOR RECALLING STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS
Prepared by the Office of the Secretary of State
Revised 2007

II. RECALL OF LOCAL OFFICERS
NOTE: Pages 14 – 26, see above document.

Highlights, as follows:
II. RECALL OF LOCAL OFFICERS
A. IN GENERAL
The State Constitution requires that the Legislature must provide for the recall of local officers.

For the purpose of recall of local officers, the term "clerk" refers to the appropriate elections official for the jurisdiction in which the recall is being sought, in particular:

2. the city clerk in the case of the recall of elective officers of a city;

C. FORMAT OF PETITION
5. Approval of Petition Form by Secretary of State
No signatures may be obtained on the recall petition until the form of the petition has been approved by the elections official. (§11042)

E. The number of signatures required TO QUALIFY A PARTICULAR RECALL IS AS FOLLOWS:
1. If an officer of a city, county, school district, county board of education, or resident voting district is sought to be recalled, the number of signatures must be equal in number to not less than the following percent of registered voters in the electoral jurisdiction:

Twenty-five percent if the registration is less than 10,000 but at least 1,000.

NOTE: 2781 registered voters in April 2010, therefore 695 signatures required for recall.

F. FILING OF PETITION - DEADLINE
After approval by the elections official, proponents must submit to the elections official, during normal business hours as posted, a petition with the requisite number of signatures within:

2. 60 days if the electoral jurisdiction has less than 5,000 registered voters but at least 1,000.

L. DATE OF ELECTION
The election shall be held not less than 88 nor more than 125 days after the issuance of the order, and if a regular or special election is to be held throughout the electoral jurisdiction of the officer sought to be recalled within such time period, the recall election shall be held on the same day and consolidated with the regular or special election. (§11242)

If the majority vote on the question is to recall, the officer is removed and, if there is a candidate, the candidate who receives the highest number of votes is the successor to the unexpired term of the recalled officer. The officer may not be a candidate to succeed himself/herself at the recall election. (Cal.Const., Art. II, Sec. 15; §11381(c), 11384, 11385)