Ballotpedia is covering recall elections against 31 officials on November 7, 2023. The elections against 25 of those officials are happening in Michigan. Another three are in Oregon, and the remaining three are split between Colorado, Ohio, and Texas.
Eleven of the 31 officials on recall ballots are city council members. Nine are city officials, including clerks and treasurers, and eight are mayors or supervisors. The remaining three officials are school board members.
The reasons for the recall efforts included citizens disagreeing with city council votes to bring in new manufacturing and industrial projects and to increase wind turbine height restrictions. Other efforts listed homelessness in the community, failing to properly conduct business of the municipality, and removing a school district’s logo as reasons for recall. Other recall efforts criticized officeholder behavior and interactions with community members, such as lack of leadership, abuse of power, unlawful expenditures, and not resigning after accepting a job out of state.
The recall elections in Michigan are similar to special elections, where the incumbents run against candidates who have filed against them. The candidate who receives the most votes in the election will win the seat.
In Colorado, the recall election has two questions for voters. The first is a yes/no question on the recall, and the second is a list of candidates who filed to run if the official is recalled. If a majority of voters vote yes, the candidate who receives the most votes in the replacement question will be elected to the seat.
In Ohio, the recall election is a yes/no question. If a majority of voters vote yes, the city council will appoint a replacement. In both Oregon and Texas, the recall elections are also yes/no questions, but if a majority of voters vote yes, no appointments will be made. Instead, special elections will be held to elect replacements.
Last year, Ballotpedia covered recall elections against 37 officials on November 8, 2022. Recall elections against 25 of those officials were in Michigan. Four recall elections occurred in Maine. Colorado, Ohio, and Texas all held two recall elections on that date, and one was held in both California and Nebraska.
As of October 31, 2023, Ballotpedia had tracked a total of 251 recall efforts against 371 officials across all office types. As of that time, 52 officials had faced recall elections, and 36 had been removed from office in recall elections, a success rate of 9.7%. In addition to the 31 recall elections scheduled for November 7, 2023, another nine recall elections have been scheduled.
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