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Betty Jo Maxwell and Leah Carey recall, Bowman, Georgia (2025)
| Betty Jo Maxwell and Leah Carey recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Leah Carey |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| April 8, 2025 |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Georgia Georgia recall laws City council recalls Recall reports |
An election to recall City Councilmembers Betty Jo Maxwell and Leah Carey was scheduled for April 8, 2025, in Bowman, Georgia. Voters recalled Maxwell and Carey.[1][2][3]
A 2024 recall effort for Maxwell and Carey did not go to a vote. The election was canceled after the petitions were invalidated by Senior Superior Court Judge David R. Sweat.
Recall vote
Maxwell recall question
Betty Jo Maxwell recall, 2025
Betty Jo Maxwell lost the Bowman City Council recall election on April 8, 2025.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✖ | Yes |
80.3
|
106 | ||
No |
19.7
|
26 | |||
Total Votes |
132 | ||||
|
|
Carey recall question
Leah Carey recall, 2025
Leah Carey lost the Bowman City Council recall election on April 8, 2025.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
| ✖ | Yes |
80.3
|
106 | ||
No |
19.7
|
26 | |||
Total Votes |
132 | ||||
|
|
Recall supporters
Recall organizers gave voting against city ordinances, failing to enforce the city charter and ordinances, violating Bowman's ethics code, and violating the city charter as reasons for the recall effort against Maxwell and Carey.[1]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Georgia
Georgia allows the following grounds for recall: conducted himself or herself in a manner that adversely affects the administration of his or her office and adversely affects the rights and interests of the public; malfeasance while in office; violated his or her oath of office; misconduct; failure to perform duties prescribed by law; and willfully misused, converted, or misappropriated, without authority, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed.[4] To get the recall on the ballot, supporters must collect signatures equal to 30% of the number of electors who were registered and qualified to vote in the preceding election for that office. Signatures must be collected within 90 days.[5][6]
Recall organizers submitted applications for recall petitions for Maxwell and Carey to the Bowman City Clerk's Office on January 8, 2025.[1]
Recall context
- See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report
Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.
The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Recall Report
- Bowman, Georgia
- Recall campaigns in Georgia
- Political recall efforts, 2025
- City council recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Elberton Star, "Council recalls go forward; recall for mayor is dropped," January 29, 2025
- ↑ 105.3 WSGC, "Two Bowman council members face recall election in April," March 3, 2025
- ↑ 105.3 WSGC, "Carey, Maxwell out as voters remove council members in Bowman," April 9, 2025
- ↑ 2022 Georgia Code, "§ 21-4-3 (2022)," accessed October 16, 2023
- ↑ 2022 Georgia Code, "§ 21-4-4 (2022)," accessed October 16, 2023
- ↑ 2022 Georgia Code, "§ 21-4-11 (2022)," accessed October 16, 2023
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