Mayor and city council recall, Wellington, Florida (2024)
| Wellington mayor and city council recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Michael Drahos John McGovern Tanya Siskind |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in Florida Florida recall laws City council recalls Mayoral recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Mayor Anne Gerwig and Councilmembers Michael Drahos, John McGovern, and Tanya Siskind did not go to a vote in Wellington, Florida.[1]
Wellington held a regular election for mayor and village council on March 19, 2024. Due to term limits, Gerwig and Drahos did not run. Signatures were not submitted for any of the officials.[2][3]
Recall supporters
Recall organizer and chairwoman of the Coalition to Preserve Wellington Maureen Brennan said, "We are asking four of the five council members to be removed from their office because we don't believe that they represent Wellington at large."[1]
Brennan has alleged that the mayor and council members violated Wellington's land development code and sunshine laws.[4]
Recall opponents
Regarding the recall effort and alleged sunshine law violations, Gerwig has said, "We're doing everything in the open. We are treating everyone fairly. We are looking for the best outcome for Wellington."[5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Florida
Florida allows the following grounds for recall: malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, and conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.[6]
From the time that the recall petition is approved for circulation, signatures must be collected within 30 days. The number of signatures required depends on the number of registered voters in the jurisdiction. A minimum of 50 signatures are required in jurisdictions with fewer than 500 registered voters. In jurisdictions with 500 to 24,999 registered voters, a minimum of 100 to 1,000 signatures are required, or 10% of registered voters, whichever is higher. In jurisdictions with 25,000 or more registered voters, the number of signatures required is 1,000 or 5% of registered voters, whichever is higher.[7] The officeholder then has a chance to file a defensive statement. In the second round of signature collection, organizers have 60 days to collect signatures equal to 15% of registered voters from the officeholder's district.[7]
Recall organizers in Wellington needed to collect 2,300 signatures for the first stage of the recall effort for each officeholder, equivalent to 5% of voters in the village. If organizers had successfully collected the required number of signatures for the first stage, they would then have needed to collect approximately 7,000 signatures for each officeholder to trigger a recall election.[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
- Wellington, Florida
- Recall campaigns in Florida
- Political recall efforts, 2024
- City council recalls
- Mayoral recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 WLRN, "Wellington group seeking to oust mayor, council over high-end development on preserve land," January 23, 2024
- ↑ Government website of Wellington, Florida, "Election Information," accessed January 29, 2024
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Wellington Village Clerk Chevelle Hall," May 6, 2024
- ↑ WMMB, "Wellington Equestrian Village Redevelopment Proposal Triggers Recall Effort," January 18, 2024
- ↑ WJNO, "Wellington Mayor Reacts To Recall Efforts Over Equestrian Land Proposal," January 23, 2024
- ↑ The 2023 Florida Statutes, "100.361 Municipal recall." accessed October 16, 2023
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The 2020 Florida Statutes, "Fla. Stat. Ann §100.361," accessed August 24, 2021
