The Ohio Supreme Court found that petitions calling for recalls of the Whitehall mayor and two council members are not valid, and more than 100 new signatures are needed.
In an opinion filed May 4, the Ohio Supreme Court said there were not enough signatures for the three petitions seeking to recall Whitehall Mayor Michael Bivens and council members Lori Elmore and Amy Harcar. Whitehall City Council had scheduled a recall election for the three officials for May 28.
Whitehall for All, the group leading the recall attempt, has said that the officials should be recalled due to fraud, favoritism, and fiscal irresponsibility on the City Council.
Opponents have said the recall effort is motivated by racism. Bivens and Elmore are Black, while Harcar is White, but works with the immigrant community in her other role at a nonprofit that provides social services to immigrants.
Michael Shannon, a Whitehall voter and former city attorney, filed a lawsuit April 8 asking the Supreme Court to toss out the signatures. He said Whitehall Clerk of Council Julie Ogg erred by certifying the recall petitions because they did not have enough valid signatures.
The Supreme Court found that the three petitions did not have the correct number of signatures and that the recall campaign and Ogg had miscalculated how many were needed.
The recall campaign and Ogg had interpreted the city’s charter to mean a recall vote could move forward with signatures totaling 15% of the number of people who voted in the mayor’s race at the last regular municipal election, according to the opinion.
In that 2023 election, 2,827 people voted in the mayor’s race, while 3,913 people voted in the election overall, according to the opinion. The recall campaign turned in 444 valid signatures for the petition to recall of Bivens, and 447 each for the council members.
Ogg certified the petitions because they each contained more than 425 signatures, meaning they totaled more than 15% of 2,827 mayoral race voters, according to the opinion.
The recall effort actually needed at least 587 valid signatures for each petition − 15% of 3,913, the total of all voters who voted in any race in the 2023 municipal election, the court court found.
The petitions will be returned, and the recall campaign will have 10 days from the day they receive the petitions to make up the remaining signatures, according to the ruling.
Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Petitions to recall Whitehall mayor, council members need more signatures
Reporting by Bailey Gallion, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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