Webber Township recall, Michigan (2023)

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Webber Township recall
Officeholders
Ernie Wogatzke Kathy Young Pat Williams
Recall status
Recall approved (Young) Recall defeated (Williams) Did not go to a vote (Wogatzke)
Recall election date
November 7, 2023
Signature requirement
25% of township voters from the preceding gubernatorial election
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2023 Recalls in Michigan Michigan recall laws Mayoral recalls City official recalls Recall reports

An effort in Webber Township, Michigan, to recall Township Supervisor Ernie Wogatzke, Clerk Kathy Young, and Treasurer Pat Williams was initiated in May 2023.

Recall elections against Young and Williams were held on November 7, 2023. Deborah Hanes was declared the winner over Young after a tie-breaking ceremony held on November 16, 2023. Williams retained her seat as a result of the recall vote.

The tiebreaker involved a three-step process:

• Both candidates were asked to think of a number between one and fifteen. The correct number, seven, was guessed accurately by Hanes.
• Following Hanes' success in the first stage, she was prompted to call heads or tails in a coin flip, which was won by Young.
• Young was then invited to reach into a hat to pick out one of two folded pieces of paper. The paper she chose read "Not Elected," and Hanes was declared the winner.

Ballotpedia covered recall elections against 35 officials on November 7, 2023. Click here to read more about the other recall elections on the ballot.

Recall vote

Young recall

General election

General election for Webber Township Clerk

Deborah Hanes defeated incumbent Kathy Young and Nikki Hughes in the general election for Webber Township Clerk on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Deborah Hanes (Independent)	34.9	83
		Kathy Young (D)	34.9	83
		Nikki Hughes (R)	30.3	72

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Vote totals may be incomplete for this race.
	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 238
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Williams recall

General election

General election for Webber Township Treasurer

Incumbent Pat Williams defeated Piedad Medina and Jacqueline Jacobs in the general election for Webber Township Treasurer on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Pat Williams (D)	41.4	98
		Piedad Medina (Independent)	40.9	97
		Jacqueline Jacobs (R)	17.7	42

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 237
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Recall supporters

The recall effort was organized by Medina, who said the officials should have been recalled for what she believed were unlawful expenditures, violations of ordinances, and failures to maintain financial records. Medina also said that the township board purposefully left classified documents out, with the intention of having her read them as a means to terminate her from her position as deputy clerk.

Recall opponents

Wogatzke responded to the recall effort, saying, "We’re not perfect, we do make mistakes. If we do make mistakes, we’re not doing anything. It’s not a heinous crime, it’s not like we embezzled."

Williams said, "They swear that I have stolen, Why would I wanna' mess myself up? I’ve gotta' balance at the end of the month. If I stole, then I’m not gonna' balance and it’s gonna' cause headaches for me. Also, it’s wrong and I don’t do those things. Why steal from the hand that feeds you?"

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan

A recall petition must first be filed with the appropriate board, which then holds a hearing to determine whether the reason for the petition is "factual" and "clear;" that is the only criteria considered by the board to approve or reject the petition.

Once approved by the board, the petitioner must amass a number of signatures equal to 25 percent of the number of votes cast in the last general election in the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled. The petitioner has 60 days to collect these signatures beginning on the date the first signature is collected; however, the petition must be submitted no later than 180 days after it was approved by the board. For recall of state officials, the petition is submitted to the Michigan Secretary of State; for local officials, the petition is submitted to the county or township clerk in the county where the official resides.

See also

• Recall campaigns in Michigan
• Political recall efforts, 2023
• Mayoral recalls
• City official recalls

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Government website of Webber Township, Michigan