Citizens in Charge

While Citizens in Charge works primarily on the rights of initiative and referendum, there is a third process that is important in ensuring citizen control of government. Citizens in eighteen states have the power of recall, whereby elected official can be removed from office before the expiration of their term. When citizens are dissatisfied with their elected officials, they can petition to have a recall election put on the ballot. Removal can be for malfeasance or in many jurisdictions for any action the recall language specifies. Having a recall process allows voters to maintain control over elected officials who are not representing their best interests, are unresponsive or incompetent, or in some cases have broken the law.

State officials can be recalled in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. Virginia also allows recall petitions, but unlike other recall states the recall then goes to a judicial trial rather than a vote of the people. City officials can also be recalled in the District of Columbia. Voters also have some type of recall power over local officials in most states.

For recalls, most state laws have set the highest signature threshold for any type of petition - most often requiring 25% of all registered voters or 25% of voters in the last election for the recalled office to sign a recall petition. Whenever a sufficient number of signatures are obtained a recall election is set when voters will be asked if they would like to remove the official. In some instances a replacement is chosen in the same election.

Recall has made headlines recently on both sides of the country. A recall effort is proceeding against several city council members in the working class Los Angeles suburb of Bell, California. The city has been in headlines since it was learned that earlier this year that council members had given themselves yearly salaries in excess of $100,000 each, and that several other city officials had incredibly inflated salaries: the city manager made over $1 million. While several of the officials – including the mayor – have been arrested, recall is allowing the officials to be removed regardless of what the courts decide.

Across the country Portsmouth, Virginia Mayor James Holley was recently recalled, again. The latest recall was a response to a 2009 incident in which it was found out that Holley had misused city-provided assistants to do personal business. Holley had been recalled as mayor in 1987.

When politicians become unresponsive or abuse power, keeping them in office until the next election could simply cause too much harm. Recall allows citizens to have an option in these situations.