Mayor and city council recall, Westminster, Colorado (2020-2021)
| Westminster Mayor and City Council recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Herb Atchison Anita Seitz Kathryn Skulley |
| Recall status |
Resigned Did not go to a vote |
| Recall election date |
| July 20, 2021 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2021 Recalls in Colorado Colorado recall laws Mayoral recalls City council recalls Recall reports |
Voters decided against recalling Councillor Jon Voelz in Westminster, Colorado on July 20, 2021. While 38.1% of voters voted in favor of recalling Voelz, 61.9% voted against recall.[1]
Organizers also attempted to recall Mayor Herb Atchison and Councillors Anita Seitz and Kathryn Skulley. Atchison resigned effective May 3, 2021, after the city clerk announced that enough petitions had been submitted for a recall election to be scheduled.[2]
The recall effort against Seitz and Skulley failed after organizers did not submit the required number of signed petitions.[3]
Recall vote
Recall question
Voters answered the question, "Shall Jon Voelz be recalled from the office of City Councillor?"[4]
Jon Voelz recall, 2021
Jon Voelz won the Westminster City Council recall election on July 20, 2021.
Recall Vote |
% |
Votes |
|||
Yes |
38.2
|
6,437 | |||
| ✔ | No |
61.8
|
10,416 | ||
Total Votes |
16,853 | ||||
|
|
Replacement question
Voters were also asked to choose a candidate to succeed Voelz should he be recalled.[4]
General election
General election for Westminster City Council
No candidate won the general election for Westminster City Council on July 20, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| Kathleen Dodaro (Nonpartisan) | 100.0 | 7,056 | ||
Vote totals may be incomplete for this race. | ||||
| Total votes: 7,056 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Recall supporters
The recall efforts were organized by residents Jessica True, Gary Shea, and Deb Teter in response to increased water and sewer rates.[5]
Speaking about the water rates, Shea said, "We’ve seen the water bills and some of them have just been so outrageous. A lot of the people that are upset with this are just disappointed that the Councilors that voted for this increase just were not listening to their citizens’ concerns."[5]
Recall opponents
In a written statement, Councilwoman Seitz said, "Many have said they want to protect the safety and reliability of our system, but they don’t want to raise rates. That would be my top choice too, however, we don’t have a magic wand. We are stuck with a system that is in critical need of repairs with very limited ways to pay for it. My responsibility to the community is to ensure that we provide safe, dependable and reliable drinking water."[5]
Councilman Voelz gave the following response to the recall: "Westminster residents are being misled because I was not even on the City Council at the time of the vote on water rates that triggered the recall effort. ... I have never voted for a water rate increase during my time on Council. The only vote I have taken on water rates was for a zero increase to rates due to COVID-19."[6]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Colorado
The number of valid signatures required to force a special recall election is 25 percent of the votes cast in the last election for the official being recalled.
Recall organizers filed petitions for recall on August 31, 2020. They had until November 2, 2020, to submit 5,009 valid signatures against Atchinson and 6,098 signatures against each of the three councilmembers.[5] Recall organizers were given additional time to collect a second round of signatures after the first batch was found insufficient by City Clerk Michelle Parker. On November 30, 2020, Parker found the second round of signature submissions insufficient to move the recall efforts forward.[7]
In April 2021, Adams County District Court Judge Kyle Seedorf ruled that the recall effort could continue. The ruling required that the petition signatures that had been previously disqualified be re-evaluated.[8]
On April 28, 2021, the city clerk's office announced that there were sufficient signatures to trigger a recall election for Mayor Herb Atchison and Councillor Jon Voelz, but not for Mayor Pro Tem Anita Seitz or Councillor Kathryn Skulley.[9] Atchison resigned effective May 3, 2021.[10]
A recall election for Voelz was scheduled for July 20, 2021. The filing deadline to run for Voelz's seat passed May 20, 2021.[11][1]
See also
- Recall campaigns in Colorado
- Political recall efforts, 2020
- Political recall efforts, 2021
- Mayoral recalls
- City council recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 City of Westminster, "CITY OF WESTMINSTER, COLORADO SPECIAL RECALL ELECTION JULY 20, 2021 UNOFFICIAL RESULTS," July 20, 2021
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Westminster Mayor Herb Atchison unexpectedly resigns," May 4, 2021
- ↑ Westminster Colorado, "Recall Petitions," April 28, 2021
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 City of Westminster, "City of Westminster Special Recall Election Certified Ballot Content," accessed June 4, 2021
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedrecall - ↑ [https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/westminster-city-council-member-recall-election-surrounded-by-water-politics The Denver Channel, "Westminster city council member recall election surrounded by water, politics," June 30, 2021
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namednts - ↑ City of Westminster, "City Clerk to evaluate additional recall petition signatures per Adams County District Court," April 19, 2021
- ↑ Westminster Colorado, "Recall Petitions," April 28, 2021
- ↑ The Denver Post, "Westminster Mayor Herb Atchison unexpectedly resigns," May 4, 2021
- ↑ Westminster, Colorado, "Nominations accepted through May 20 for recall election," May 11, 2021
