Tiffiny Mitchell recall, Oregon House of Representatives (2019)
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| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2019 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws State legislative recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Tiffiny Mitchell, a member of the Democratic Party, from her elected position representing District 32 in the Oregon House of Representatives was launched in September 2019. Supporters of the recall had up to 90 days to collect the 4,883 signatures needed to force a recall election. This made the requisite signatures due by December 4, 2019.
On December 4, 2019, recall organizers announced that it failed to gather the required number of signatures to force a recall election.[1] Chief petitioner Darren Mead said in a statement that, "Despite not reaching our goal for signatures, I take pleasure in knowing that we have defined who Tiffiny Mitchell is and what she stands for. We already have folks lining up to run for her seat next year, and it hasn’t stopped there. Now Timber Unity members are stepping up to get involved on city and county levels too. We have Tiffiny Mitchell’s awful vote record to thank for that. Even though there won’t be a recall election next month, we are starting the 2020 election cycle with thousands of voters, including Democratic voters, who are ready to take back the North Coast and elect common-sense leaders."[2]
Recall supporters criticized Mitchell over her support of legislation related to cap-and-trade, sales taxes, and public employee pensions.
Mitchell was elected to the state House in 2018 with 49% of the vote. Prior to the 2018 election, Deborah Boone (D) represented District 32 from 2004 to 2019.
Recall supporters
The chief petitioner of the recall was Darren Mead. Members of the group Timber Unity filed the prospective petition with the secretary of state on September 5, 2019. The petition listed the following reasons for recall:
| “ |
Dear Neighbors: No matter your party, please RECALL TIFFINY MITCHELL! We can't afford Tiffiny taking another vote in Salem. Tiffiny promised to represent us. Instead, Tiffiny supported Portland special-interest agendas who gave her campaign over HALF-MILLION DOLLARS. TIFFINY threatened our jobs, overruled citizens' votes, and rigged elections so we couldn't overturn bad laws:
We can't wait another minute to protect working families. VOTE YES: RECALL TIFFINY MITCHELL! Sincerely, Darren Mead, Astoria[3] |
” |
| —Darren Mead's Prospective Petition[4] | ||
Recall opponents
After the recall was announced against Rep. Mitchell, she said that recalls are meant “to deal with the most egregious sort of violations of ethics, for people who have truly, truly done something wrong. I’m not sure that’s necessarily what’s happened here. I’m not necessarily sure that the recall being used in this context is appropriate. But if that’s what people want to do, that’s what they want to do."[5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Oregon
The Oregon Secretary of State says this about the recall process in the state:[6]
1. The first step for a recall petition against a state public officer is the filing of a prospective recall petition with the Secretary of State, Elections Division. The chief petitioner for a recall must be a registered voter in the district from which the public officer is elected or appointed.
2. After receiving a sufficient prospective petition for a recall of a state public officer and no later than 3 business days after the prospective petition is filed, the Elections Division provides the chief petitioner with official templates of the cover and signature sheets for the petition. Once the chief petitioner has received the official templates, they may begin the approval for circulation process. The cover and signature sheets must be approved in writing by the Elections Division before the chief petitioner may begin circulating the recall petition.
3. Using the official templates provided by the Elections Division, the chief petitioner prepares and submits cover and signature sheets exactly as intended to circulate, including weight, style and color of paper with the cover sheet (SEL 350) copied on the reverse side of the signature sheet (SEL 351). Only a chief petitioner or authorized agents may submit cover and signature sheets for approval.
The chief petitioner must turn in the required number of signatures no later than 90 days after the prospective petition has been filed.
The recall petition was filed against state Rep. Mitchell on September 5, 2019. Supporters of the recall had until December 4, 2019, to turn in 4,883 signatures to force a recall election. The recall group failed to get the necessary amount of signatures to make the ballot.
Election history
2018
General election
General election for Oregon House of Representatives District 32
Tiffiny Mitchell defeated Vineeta Lower, Brian Halvorsen, and Randell Carlson in the general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 32 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tiffiny Mitchell (D) | 49.0 | 15,442 |
| Vineeta Lower (R) | 43.2 | 13,618 | ||
| Brian Halvorsen (Independent Party of Oregon) | 4.2 | 1,325 | ||
| Randell Carlson (L) | 3.4 | 1,061 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 47 | ||
| Total votes: 31,493 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 32
Tiffiny Mitchell defeated John Orr and Tim Josi in the Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 32 on May 15, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tiffiny Mitchell | 41.8 | 3,309 |
 | John Orr | 29.4 | 2,323 | |
 | Tim Josi | 28.8 | 2,281 | |
| Total votes: 7,913 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 32
Vineeta Lower advanced from the Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 32 on May 15, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Vineeta Lower | 100.0 | 3,121 | |
| Total votes: 3,121 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Independent Party of Oregon primary election
Independent Party of Oregon primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 32
Brian Halvorsen advanced from the Independent Party of Oregon primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 32 on May 15, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Brian Halvorsen | 100.0 | 347 | |
| Total votes: 347 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Historical state legislative recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 124 recall efforts against 120 state lawmakers from 1913 to 2018. During that time, 39 recalls made the ballot and 22 state legislators were successfully recalled.[7]
Michigan led the way with 35 state legislative recall efforts from 1913 to 2018. Of those 35 recall efforts, three were successful. Wisconsin followed with 30 state legislative recall efforts. Six of those recalls were successful.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ OPB, "Timber Unity Recall Effort Against Oregon Coastal Democrat Comes Up Short," December 4, 2019
- ↑ Facebook, "Timber Unity," December 4, 2019
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Prospective Petition," accessed September 9, 2019
- ↑ Daily Astorian, "Mitchell calls foul on recall effort against her," September 9, 2019
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Recall Manual," accessed September 9, 2019
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of State Officials," accessed August 13, 2021
