Ballotpedia's Mid-Year Recall Report (2024)
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Mid-year report |
164 recall efforts |
Washington, D.C. City Council Alameda County, California Temecula Valley Unified School District, California Juneau Borough School District, Alaska |
June 28, 2024
By Ballotpedia staff
From January 1 through June 28, 2024, more officials have faced recall efforts and were removed in recall elections by mid-year than any other year since Ballotpedia began tracking this data in 2014.
The successful recall of 38 elected officials so far this year surpasses the second-highest mid-year figure of 29 in 2016, while the lowest number was nine in both 2015 and 2021. The 164 recall efforts against 266 officials also exceeds the previous high of 265 officials in 2016, while the lowest was 115 in 2019.
Same as 2023, city council officials drew more recall petitions than any other group by mid-year in 2024. This is in contrast to 2022 and 2021, when school board officials drew the most recall petitions by mid-year. So far this year, city council officials account for 41.4% of recall targets across all office types.
California and Michigan tied as the states with the most officials targeted in recall efforts with 57 each. Michigan also had the highest number of officials targeted for recall in 2023. The third-highest state was Oregon with 27. Oregon is the state with the most recall attempts relative to its population at 0.64 recalls per 100,000 residents.
Notable recalls across the first half of 2024 included the following:
- Two efforts to recall Wisconsin state Rep. Robin Vos (R) were initiated in 2024. The first attempt failed to gather sufficient signatures to trigger a recall election. The second attempt was initially found to meet the signature threshold by a 16-signature margin on June 25, but this decision was reversed on June 27 because some of the signatures were collected outside of the permitted 60-day window. Proponents of the recall effort alleged that Vos supported the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), accepted money from the CCP, and referred to his constituents as "whack-jobs, morons, and idiots."[1] Vos criticized the recall effort as "a waste of time, resources and effort" and defended his legislative record.[2]
- An effort to recall a pair of city council members in the District of Columbia, Charles Allen and Brianne Nadeau, was initiated in 2024. Recall supporters claim that Allen and Nadeau have failed to keep the public safe while Allen and Nadeau have said that public safety is their top priority.[3][4]
- An effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price in California was initiated in 2023, and the recall election is scheduled for November 5, 2024. Recall organizers stated, "DA Price is failing us in her responsibility to enforce the law, prosecute criminals and keep violent offenders off our streets."[5] Price argued the recall effort was being organized by Republican-connected special interest groups and that sentencing enhancements propagate racial disparities.[6]
- Voters recalled Joseph Komrosky, the Trustee Area 4 representative on the Temecula Valley Unified School District Board of Education in California, on June 4, 2024. The effort started after Komrosky and two other board members voted in 2023 to reject a social studies curriculum that included deceased San Francisco official Harvey Milk.[7] In the election, 51.1% of voters supported the recall and 48.9% opposed it.
- An effort to recall Emil Mackey and Deedie Sorensen, two of the seven members of the Juneau Borough School District school board in Alaska, began in 2024. The recall petition included the following reason for recall: "failure to understand the FY24 budget and accounting errors resulting in $7.9M deficit and taxpayer loan from CBJ."[8] Six other reasons for recall were rejected by the city attorney and did not appear on the recall petition. The board members defended their budget vote based on the information they had received from district staff leading up to it.[8]
Statistics
Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. Three individuals had two recall efforts started against them in the first half of 2024. Their statuses for each effort are included in the statistics below.
From January to June 2024, Ballotpedia covered 164 recall efforts against 266 officials. Efforts against 38 officials were successful, removing them from office via a recall election. Six officials resigned after recall efforts were started against them, 20 were put on the ballot but defeated the recall to stay in office, and the recall efforts against 100 officials failed to make the ballot. Recall elections for another 24 officials have been scheduled but had not yet been held, and 81 officials face recall efforts that remain underway.
The chart below details the results of recall efforts that have been resolved, either by reaching the ballot, failing to reach the ballot, or due to a resignation.
Recall elections removed 14.29% of officials included in recall efforts in the first half of 2024. This was the second-highest percentage of officials removed from office in the first half of a year that Ballotpedia has tracked. The highest occurred in 2019 when 14.78% of officials included in recall efforts in the first half of the year were removed from office.
The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts at the mid-year point from 2014 through 2024 as well as how many of them had been removed from office in recall elections at that time.
City council members drew more recall petitions than any other group in the first half of 2024. They also drew the most recall petitions from 2016 through 2023, with one exception. In 2021, school board members drew the most recall petitions.
A total of 110 city council or town board members faced recall campaigns, while 67 school board members faced recall campaigns. This was the third-highest number of school board officials facing recall by mid-year over the past decade, following only 2021 and 2022. Recalls were also sought for 30 mayors and vice mayors. At the state level of government, seven state legislators and five state executives faced recall efforts. A breakdown of the various recall targets is displayed in the chart below:
Targets by state
Ballotpedia covered a total of 164 recall efforts against 266 officials in 26 states. California and Michigan led the way in officials targeted for recall with 57 each in the first half of 2024. Oregon had the next highest with 27. Michigan had the most officials targeted for recall in 2018, 2022, and 2023. From 2016 to 2017 and 2019 to 2021, California had the most officials targeted for recall. To view the number of recall targets in a particular state, hover your mouse cursor over that state below:
The table below shows the average number of officials targeted for recall in each state from the mid-point of 2020 to the mid-point of 2023, the number of officials targeted at the mid-year point in 2024, and the change in 2024 numbers compared to the four-year average.
When adjusted for state population using the U.S. Census Bureau's July 2022 population estimates, Oregon became the recall leader with 0.64 recalls per 100,000 residents. It is followed by Michigan (0.57 recalls per 100,000 residents) and Nebraska (0.36 recalls per 100,000 residents).
Notable recalls
Robin Vos recall, Wisconsin State Assembly
A pair of efforts to recall Wisconsin state Rep. Robin Vos (R) were initiated by Matthew Snorek in the first half of 2024, but both failed to reach the ballot.[9] Vos has served as Wisconsin's Assembly Speaker since 2013.
Snorek initiated the first recall petition due to Vos' refusal to support calls for decertifying President Joe Biden's (D) 2020 election victory in Wisconsin and his lack of support for the impeachment efforts against Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) Chair Meagan Wolfe.[10] The effort was initiated on January 10 with a signature deadline set for March 11. Supporters submitted signatures by the deadline, but WEC staff determined that there were not enough signatures from residents within the district where Vos was elected to when the recall process was initiated.[11]
Snorek's second recall petition alleged that Vos supported the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), accepted money from the CCP, and referred to his constituents as "whack-jobs, morons, and idiots."[1] Vos criticized the recall effort as "a waste of time, resources and effort" and stated, "I’m proud of my record and the accomplishments that we’ve achieved this year. More tax reductions for Wisconsin families, increased local government funding, restrictions on DEI, historic investments in making housing more affordable and others too numerous to mention."[2]
The second effort was initiated on March 27 with a signature deadline set for May 28. Recall supporters submitted 9,132 signatures by the deadline. Vos contested the submitted petitions, but WEC staff initially verified on June 25 that the recall committee submitted 6,866 valid signatures, which was 16 more than necessary.[12][13] However, the commission met on June 27 and found in a 4-2 vote that the petition was insufficient. The petition was dismissed because Wisconsin recalls must be submitted within 60 days of registration. Since the 60th day fell on a Sunday and the Monday was a holiday, the final day to submit signatures was Tuesday, May 28. The commission ruled that the signatures collected on May 27 and May 28 could not be counted as they were not within the 60-day period. As a result, recall supporters did not gather enough valid signatures to trigger a recall election.[14][15]
Vos was elected to the state Assembly in 2004 and was re-elected in 2022 with 73% of the vote.
Charles Allen and Brianne Nadeau recall, Washington, D.C.
Efforts to recall Ward 6 City Councilman Charles Allen and Ward 1 City Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau were initiated in 2024 in Washington D.C.
Recall organizers have listed crime rates and public safety concerns as reasons for the recall effort. Proponents of the recalls have argued that, through actions such as voting to reduce the police budget and supporting proposed updates to the D.C. criminal code that would have reduced the maximum penalties for some violent crimes, Allen and Nadeau have either failed to effectively address or contributed to higher crime rates.[16][17][18]
Allen and Nadeau have both said that public safety is their top priority. Allen has emphasized efforts to recruit and retain police officers and reduce gun violence. Nadeau has highlighted efforts to recruit more police officers, provide officers with tools to aid in closing homicide cases, and push the U.S. Attorney to prosecute more cases.[19][20]
The Committee to Recall Charles Allen, chaired by Jennifer Squires, is organizing the effort to recall Allen. The Committee to Recall Brianne Nadeau, chaired by Diana Alvarez, is organizing the effort to recall Nadeau.[21]
Recall organizers would need to collect signatures from 10% of registered voters in each councilor's ward to force a recall election. Organizers have 180 days in which to collect signatures. The deadlines for submitting signatures are August 12, 2024, for the Allen effort and October 1, 2024, for the Nadeau effort.[22][23]
Allen and Nadeau were re-elected to the D.C. Council in 2022 with 94% and 79.9% of the vote respectively. Allen ran unopposed in the 2022 general election.
Pamela Price recall, Alameda County, California
An effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price in California was initiated in 2023. The recall attempt was launched by the group Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE), and the election is scheduled for November 5, 2024.
The SAFE website stated, "DA Price is failing us in her responsibility to enforce the law, prosecute criminals and keep violent offenders off our streets."[5] The group added that Price refused to charge cases, lowered sentences, and replaced prosecutors who resigned with unqualified individuals.[24] They also contend that Price's criminal justice reforms hurt victims and their families by not going far enough to deliver justice. Specifically, recall supporters pointed to a 7% increase in robberies compared to 2022 and the perceived leniency of charges against suspects in the murders of Blake Mohs and Joseph Wu, a toddler.[6]
Price responded to the recall attempt by arguing that the effort was organized by Republican-connected special interest groups. She also advocated for alternatives to incarceration and argued that sentencing enhancements propagate racial disparities.[6] Price said, "Any time that we can divert someone from the criminal justice system, that is a goal because the criminal justice system has shown to be racially biased. Often what studies have shown -- and it's true in Alameda County -- many times people who are perpetrators or labeled as perpetrators were actually victims."[6]
Politico described the recall effort against Price as part of a wave of recalls against progressive prosecutors in California.[25] Two examples of similar recalls took place from 2021 to 2022: the effort against San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, which succeeded, and the effort against Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, which failed.
To get the recall on the ballot, supporters needed to collect a number of signatures equal to 10% (73,195) of the number of registered voters in the county.[26] On March 4, 2024, SAFE submitted 123,374 signatures in support of the recall to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. The registrar found that 74,757 signatures met the validation requirements, surpassing the requirement to trigger a recall election.[27]
Price was first elected Alameda County District Attorney in 2022 with 53% of the vote. She is the first DA ever to face a recall election in Alameda County.[28]
Temecula Valley Unified School District, California
A recall election against Joseph Komrosky, the Trustee Area 4 representative on the Temecula Valley Unified School District Board of Education in California, was held on June 4, 2024.[29] Komrosky was recalled from office with 51.1% of the vote.[30]
The recall effort started after the board voted 3-2 against a new social studies curriculum published by the Teachers Curriculum Institute (TCI) at a board meeting on May 16, 2023. Komrosky, Danny Gonzalez, and Jennifer Wiersma were the majority vote. The social studies curriculum was for first through fifth grades and was scheduled to be used for eight years starting in the 2023-2024 school year.[7] California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on July 13, 2023, that the state would provide the school district with social studies books to replace the ones that were canceled with the board's vote against the curriculum.[31]
The board reviewed the textbooks again on July 18, 2023, and again voted 3-2 to reject them.[32] After the second vote, Newsom announced that the district would be fined $1.5 million and charged an additional $1.6 million to pay for the state to ship the district new textbooks.[33] On July 21, 2023, the board voted 4-0 to approve the new curriculum. The vote also postponed one lesson for fourth graders pending further review. Wiersma and Komrosky voted with the other members of the board to approve the curriculum. Gonzalez was absent.[34]
When voting against the social studies curriculum, Wiersma said that sexual orientation and LGBTQ issues did not need to be taught in elementary school. Both Komrosky and Gonzalez said they did not agree with the mentions of Harvey Milk in the textbook's optional supporting materials. They both called Milk a pedophile in reference to a report that Milk had a relationship with a 16-year-old when he was 33.[7]
The recall effort was started by the One Temecula Valley Political Action Committee. On its website, the PAC said, "We understand that the chaos created by these board members has caused concern and frustration within our community. Therefore, we are taking action to ensure that our schools can move forward in a positive direction." Gonzalez and Wiersma were also named in the notices of intent to recall, but recall supporters did not collect enough signatures to put the recalls against them on the ballot.[35][36] To get the recall against Komrosky on the ballot, recall supporters had to file 4,280 signatures.[37] They filed approximately 5,200 signatures against Komrosky on December 6, 2023.[36]
Komrosky, Gonzalez, and Wiersma were elected to four-year terms on the board in November 2022.[38]
Juneau Borough School District, Alaska
An effort to recall Emil Mackey and Deedie Sorensen, two of the seven members of the Juneau Borough School District school board in Alaska, began in April 2024.[39][40] Recall supporters have until July 10, 2024, to collect enough signatures to put the recalls on the ballot.[41]
The recall petitions included the following reason for recall that was approved for circulation by the Juneau City Attorney: "failure to understand the FY24 budget and accounting errors resulting in $7.9M deficit and taxpayer loan from CBJ." Six other reasons for recall were rejected by the city attorney and did not appear on the recall petition. Jenny Thomas, one of the 11 members of the recall committee, said the board should have detected the budget issues before it reached a crisis state. She said the recall effort was meant "to hold them accountable for their prior actions and how they’ve handled this whole thing."[8]
Both board members said they believed the budget they voted to approve in spring 2023 was balanced based on information they were given by the district's administration and financial staff. Sorensen said, "While people keep acting as though maybe we should have hired someone to do a deep dive into our budget, that’s exactly what we did. [...] We gave the superintendent in, I believe it was November, the authority to find someone who could basically forensically crawl through our budget after the audit and figure out what was going on." Mackey said, "The people that are pursuing this are people in pain and people in shock. [...] And their anger and being in this situation is justified. I just disagree with them going after the people who have been trying to avoid this for the last three years."[8]
To get the recalls against Mackey and Sorensen on the ballot, supporters had to collect 2,359 signatures from qualified voters in Juneau in 60 days.[39] Recall supporters said they submitted 2,408 signatures against Mackey and 2,396 signatures against Sorensen.[42] The municipal clerk for the City and Borough of Juneau did not verify enough signatures to put the recalls on the ballot. Recall supporters were given until July 10, 2024, to collect 371 additional signatures against Sorensen and 347 additional signatures against Mackey.[41]
Both board members were elected to the board in 2019 and re-elected to three-year terms in 2022.[8] At the time the recall effort started, Sorensen was serving as president of the board, and Mackey was serving as vice president.[40] They were the only two members of the board who could be included in the recall effort, since the others had either been too recently elected or their terms were scheduled to end too soon.[43]
See also
- Recall overview
- Political recall efforts
- Political recall efforts, 2024
- Laws governing recall
- Ballotpedia's 2023 Recall Analysis
- Ballotpedia's Mid-Year Recall Report (2023)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 WISPOLITICS, "Statement of intent to circulate recall petition," accessed March 29, 2024
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 WISPOLITICS, "Vos campaign: Statement," January 10, 2024
- ↑ The District of Columbia - Office of Campaign Finance E-Filing, "Statement of Organization," accessed February 1, 2024
- ↑ DC News Now, "Crime leads to recall efforts against two DC councilmembers," February 20, 2024
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 SAFE, "Home," accessed June 20, 2024
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 cbsnews.com, "Embattled Alameda County DA Pamela Price responds to recall effort, critics," July 17, 2023
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Press Enterprise, "Teachers, others protest Temecula school board meeting after curriculum’s rejection," June 13, 2023
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Juneau Empire, "Recall effort targets school board president, vice president due to district’s budget crisis," April 8, 2024
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Vos recall organizer launches second effort after first one fails," March 28, 2024
- ↑ Wisconsin Public Radio, "Recall petition," accessed January 12, 2024
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Robin Vos recall organizers fail to submit enough valid signatures, initial review finds," March 12, 2024
- ↑ Raine County Eye, "Wisconsin Election Commission delays evaluating Recall Vos petitions," June 11, 2024
- ↑ Fox 6, "Robin Vos recall: Enough signatures collected to force recall election," June 25, 2024
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Group turns in signatures to trigger recall of Robin Vos but new maps complicate the effort," June 25, 2024
- ↑ 620WTMJ, "UPDATE: Not enough signatures to recall Robin Vos, WI Elections Commission declares" June 27, 2024
- ↑ Recall Charles Allen, "Why Recall?" accessed June 18, 2024
- ↑ Save Ward 1, "Why Recall?" accessed May 13, 2024
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Recall effort targets D.C. Council member Brianne Nadeau over crime surge," February 20, 2024
- ↑ Axios, "Petition for recall of Charles Allen, Ward 6 Member of the DC Council," accessed February 15, 2024
- ↑ WUSA9, "DC crime triggers Brianne Nadeau recall effort," February 21, 2024
- ↑ DC News Now, "Crime leads to recall efforts against two DC councilmembers," February 20, 2024
- ↑ 7News, "DC crime crisis sparks recall effort against Ward 6 Councilman Charles Allen," February 13, 2024
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Phone communication with DC Board of Elections," June 17, 2024
- ↑ SAFE, "FAQs," accessed June 20, 2024
- ↑ Politico, “California keeps electing progressive DAs — then pushing to recall them,” August 15, 2023
- ↑ The Berkeley Scanner, "Pamela Price recall update: Signature count still underway," April 5, 2024
- ↑ The Independent, "DA Pamela Price Recall Date Is Set," May 23, 2024
- ↑ abc7news.com, "Alameda County DA Pamela Price to face recall vote," April 16, 2024
- ↑ The Press-Enterprise, "Recall election for Temecula school board’s Joseph Komrosky will be in summer," February 21, 2024
- ↑ Riverside County Registrar of Voters, "June 4, 2024: Temecula Valley Unified School District Trustee Area 4 Special Recall Election," accessed June 20, 2024
- ↑ Politico, "California replaces textbooks canceled by far-right board," July 13, 2023
- ↑ EdSource, "Temecula board again votes to reject textbooks, despite warnings from Newsom," July 19, 2023
- ↑ NBC News, "California to fine school district $1.5 million for rejecting materials mentioning Harvey Milk," July 19, 2023
- ↑ KBPS, "Temecula Valley Unified board unanimously approves previously rejected textbooks," July 24, 2023
- ↑ One Temecula Valley Political Action Committee, "Recall," accessed June 16, 2023
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 The San Bernardino Sun, "Signatures turned in to seek recall of one Temecula school board member," December 6, 2023
- ↑ The Press-Enterprise, "Temecula school board recall backers start gathering signatures," August 13, 2023
- ↑ Palm Springs Desert Sun, "Temecula's conservative board may try to fire school district's superintendent. The backstory," June 10, 2023
- ↑ 39.0 39.1 City and Borough of Juneau, "Election Officials Approve Recall Petition Applications for School Board Members Deedie Sorensen and Emil Mackey," April 8, 2024
- ↑ 40.0 40.1 Juneau School District, "Board of Education Members," accessed April 26, 2024
- ↑ 41.0 41.1 City and Bureau of Juneau, "Citizen Petitions: Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Petition News (6/21/2024)," June 21, 2024
- ↑ Juneau Empire, "School board recall petitions submitted; supporters of Saturday cruise ship ban need more signatures," June 11, 2024
- ↑ KTOO, "Parents petition to recall school board president, vice president in response to district’s consolidation plan," May 1, 2024
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