Recall Committee Hands In 9,462 Signatures to City Clerk

On Wednesday, May 9, the Jeannine Pearce Recall Committee submitted 9,462 signatures to the Long Beach City Clerk, which were accepted as appropriately filed.

 

The required number of signatures of registered voters in the 2nd Council District to qualify the recall for the ballot is 6,363 (20 percent of the entire voter registration in the district), and the clerk’s office has already begun the counting and validation process.

 

These 9,462 recall petition signatures have already sent a powerful message throughout Long Beach, and beyond, that elected officials cannot act with total impunity, as if they were above the law, and expect their constituents to sit idly by and allow them to escape accountability. These signatures represent 9,462 voices in favor of a higher standard in government. By comparison, Pearce was only elected with 5,706 votes in June of 2016.

 

Furthermore – while the main challenge in signature gathering is getting in direct contact with voters – the refusal rate once that contact was made was close to zero. 98 percent of voters who answered the door readily signed the recall petition. Further evidence for the overwhelming desire for Councilmember Pearce’s removal from office can be found in the number of signature withdrawals received by the City Clerk’s office throughout the signature drive – only 60, as yet unverified. Even if, as is unlikely, all the withdrawals were found to be valid, it would still represent less than one percent of the petition signatories.

 

Ana Maria Sanchez, a Recall Committee member and one of nearly 30 official 2nd District resident recall ‘Proponents’, who signed the Notice of Intention last December, and who was present for the filing yesterday, provides the following quote: “We are very excited about the recall campaign. Everyone has worked hard, and we’ll take a quick break before gearing up for the next step in the process. Hopefully, she’ll get some sense now and do the right thing—resign, and save the city and 2nd District residents the time, expense and trouble. But if not, we’re ready to get the job done ourselves!”