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Gabriela Plascencia recall, Riverside, California (2021)
| Riverside City Council recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in California California recall laws City council recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall City Councilwoman Gabriela Plascencia did not make the ballot in Riverside, California. Organizers did not submit the necessary number of signatures by the deadline of April 27, 2021.[1]
Plascencia was first elected in 2019, when she defeated Sean Mill with 52.4% of the vote.
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
Riverside residents Judy Teunissen and Ana Sofia Miramontes led the recall effort.[2] They initiated the recall effort after the Riverside City Council found Plascencia to have committed two ethics violations in December 2020.[3]
The group Recall Gaby also alleged the following grounds for recall on its website.[4]
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1. Proposed to punitively cut businesses off from water and electricity at the height of COVID-related job losses.
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Recall opponents
Plascencia issued the following response to the recall effort on her Facebook page.[6]
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Yesterday I was served recall papers with unsubstantiated claims that will only distract from the good work we have been doing for Riverside and Ward 5 since my election. After months of attacks and false accusations driven by a few, I remain committed to represent Riverside and Ward 5 residents. The people of Ward 5 elected me in good faith, and I have been working diligently to address the issues facing our city, especially during this unprecedented pandemic. In my short time on the council, I have worked to protect Riverside residents and our small business community. I helped to establish a temporary moratorium on evictions to help those affected by the pandemic including protecting essential workers, a freeze on rent increases, ensuring equity, and fighting for working families. The group who is behind this recall still have to garner a number of signatures in order to put the recall on the ballot. I ask that you do not sign any petition and I encourage you to contact me with any concerns. Nothing has changed, I will continue to be transparent with an open-door policy for all residents.[5] |
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Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in California
Organizers were required to collect signatures from 20% of registered voters in Riverside City Council Ward 5. The required number of signatures was about 4,300 in this case. The recall did not make the ballot after organizers failed to submit the necessary signatures by the April 27 deadline.[2]
Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
See also
- Recall campaigns in California
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- City council recalls
- City elections in Riverside, California (2021)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Press Enterprise, "Effort to oust Riverside Councilmember Gaby Plascencia fails," April 28, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Press Enterprise, "Recall effort targets Riverside city councilwomen Gaby Plascencia," January 18, 2021
- ↑ Press Enterprise, "Riverside City Council affirms ethics violations by Councilwoman Gaby Plascencia," December 2, 2020
- ↑ Recall Gaby, "About," accessed April 30, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Facebook, "Gaby Plascencia for Riverside City Council," December 8, 2020
