Election officials reject 98 percent of signatures on petitions to recall Cleveland Mayor

Cleveland.com ^ | 6/25/2015 | Andrew Tobias

[EBH]

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An already long-shot effort to recall Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson was dealt a major blow on Wednesday after elections officials rejected more than 98 percent of the 12,887 signatures submitted by the group.

Elections officials certified as valid only 260 signatures submitted by recall organizers on Saturday, the County Board of Elections said in a news release. The group needed 12,025 valid signatures from city residents who voted in the November 2013 election to force a recall election.

The recall group, which calls itself the Cleveland: A Return to Excellence Committee, now has 20 days to attempt to collect the 11,765 more valid signatures. If the group fails a second time, it must start its effort over from the beginning.

The elections board disqualified about 9,600 signatures because of issues with how the petitions were filled out. Nearly all of those were rejected because elections officials found petition circulators failed to fill out a required part of the petition form stating the number of people they witnessed signing the document.

But elections officials said they rejected another 1,980 signatures after finding inaccuracies with the information provided by people who signed the petitions — such as mismatched signatures or names and addresses that didn't match what the elections board had on file.

Of the 1,294 signatures that were valid to registered voters, 1,034 were disqualified after elections workers determined the people who signed them did not vote in the November 2013 mayoral election, a requirement under the city's charter recall election rules.

"I feel for those that signed this petition in good faith, but the Ohio Revised Code is very clear about what is required for part petitions to be valid," County Elections Director Pat McDonald said in a written statement.

[EBH]

Too bad the BOE doesn't work this hard at election time.

[Rodamala]

Too many cursive signatures.

[FrdmLvr]

They rejected over NINTY EIGHT PERCENT of the signatures????? …smh...Mass incompetence is what lies at the heart of that element of society.

[GSWarrior]

Cleveland is taking its loss in the NBA finals rather hard, it seems.

[grania]

The Cleveland mayor has done a good job keeping the city from exploding, keeping up the revenue stream from commuters, tourists, construction and conventions, and he's done a lot improve the city's image. But it's been at the expense of services for people who actually live in the city.

But, c'mon. If these clowns who can't do better that 2% legal signatures, how are they going to run a city?

[bgill]

If only they had been that diligent back in Nov. ‘08.

[Rapscallion]

We better get a handle on who is supposed to be in charge over elected officials, elected judges, and election commissions or it is all over for us....

Whoops. It is already over, isn't it?

[DanielRedfoot]

OK, Then now how may fake signatures are required to recall said Election Officials???

This is how it works.

And when you hit a road block, scream “Racist!,”

[EBH]

My point exactly.