HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.—A campaign that sought to recall Huntington Beach’s Mayor Pro Tem and two other councilors failed to meet the minimum number of signatures following a verification check from the Orange County Registrar of Voters on April 6.
The recall group, named ‘Save Surf City’ turned in the signatures Feb. 23 to recall Mayor Pro Tem Mike Posey, Councilman Dan Kalmick, and Councilwoman Kim Carr.
Each candidate needed approximately 13,000 verified signatures at the minimum to be recalled, representing 10 percent of current Huntington Beach voters.
The group filed around 14,000 for each recall candidate.
While disappointed that the recall will not move forward, Save Surf City officials said they were still impressed with the effort put forward by volunteers given that they had an approximately 87 percent signature validation rate according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters office.
“We appreciate the [signature validation rate] as evidence of the kind of due diligence that our volunteer signature collectors executed over the long period of time,” Save Surf City organized Russ Neal told The Epoch Times. “And so we want to commend all our volunteers who love this city and worked to save Surf City.”
“If you compare that to the results of the recent Westminster recalls and some other recall efforts, we have a very relatively high percentage,” he added.
In the recall petition, Save Surf City cited issues such as the council’s stance on high-density housing, what they say is a lack of transparency, the financing of a homeless shelter, and “massive government expansion.”
Organizers also had issues with the council’s decision to not hold a special election after Republican Mayor Pro Tem Tito Ortiz suddenly resigned in mid-2021. The council appointed lawyer and civil rights activist Rhonda Bolton to the seat instead.
Recallers have up to 21 days to notify the registrar of voters that they would like to review a random sample of the rejected signatures to ensure the rejection criteria are accurate.
“We intend to vigorously defend the effort of our volunteers and not let anything just be rejected without a reasonable review and reasonable challenge where that’s appropriate,” Neal said.
For Mayor Pro Tem Mike Posey, recallers filed 13,943 signatures, of which 12,134 were verified by the registrar of voters. For Councilman Dan Kalmick, 14,015 were filed, of which 12,206 were verified. For Councilwoman Carr, 14,273 were filed, of which 12,284 were verified.
Asked if they would consider recalling again, Save Surf City organizer Cari Swan told The Epoch Times that they intend to focus on this year’s city council elections instead and elect people they believe support the sentiment of the residents of Huntington Beach.
Swan also said that through the signature-gathering process, thousands of residents were made aware of pressing issues in the city.
“I’m very happy that we have over 12,000 valid voters in the city who are now keenly aware and can go out and be a force multiplier and can share that message,” she said.
