In 2023, Ballotpedia covered 284 recall efforts against 418 officials. This was a slight increase in the number of recall efforts and a slight decrease in the number of officials targeted for recall compared to 2022, when we covered 267 recall efforts against 450 officials. The year with the greatest number of recall attempts covered by Ballotpedia was 2021, with 357 recall efforts against 545 officials.
City council officials faced more recall attempts than any other officeholder type in 2023, accounting for 42.1% of recall targets. This was a continuation of a pattern as city council officials saw the most recall efforts started against them compared to other office types from 2010 to 2020 and again in 2022. The one exception, 2021, saw school board members with the most. The next most commonly targeted officeholders in 2023 were school board members, comprising 22.4% of the total.
The state with the highest number of officials targeted in recall efforts was Michigan with 141. Michigan also had the highest number of officials targeted for recall in 2022. The next-closest two states in 2023 were California with 57 and Colorado with 30. The state with the most recall attempts relative to its population was also Michigan, with 1.41 recalls per 100,000 residents. The next-closest two states were North Dakota with 1.03 and Nebraska with 0.97.
