SALEM, Ore. — A pair of recall efforts by Republicans to oust Oregon’s Democratic governor failed on Monday, with officials saying one lacked the necessary number of signatures and the other failing to submit any signatures to election officials.
“Since the deadline for submission of signatures for both recall petitions was 5 p.m. today, no further action will be taken on these petitions,” Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno said in a statement.
Gov. Kate Brown beat her Republican challenger Knute Buehler by about 120,000 votes in 2018.
Her opponents launched the recall efforts, objecting to a greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade bill that she backed but failed to emerge from the Legislature, and an education tax package that did pass, among other issues.
Clarno said that three hours before the deadline to deliver signatures on his “Flush Down Kate Brown” recall petition, chief sponsor Michael Cross delivered nine boxes of petitions to elections officials, along with a form attesting to a “completed petition submission estimating 290,000 signatures.”
The boxes were transferred under lock to the Secure Election Division facility where staff counted 23,926 sheets, Clarno said. Since each sheet cannot contain more than 10 signatures, the submission fell short of the 280,050 signatures necessary to trigger a recall vote, Clarno said.
No submission was received from the Oregon Republican Party, she said.
Oregon GOP Chairman Bill Currier said on KXL radio’s Lars Larson Show that the effort came up short and there are plans to try again, the Statesman Journal newspaper of Salem reported.
Thomas Wheatley, a Brown political adviser, said recalls should be used only when an elected official has committed a crime, not when someone disagrees with the policies of the governor or another elected official.
“The public has sent a clear message: Oregonians don’t want to waste their tax dollars on reckless recalls against Democratic lawmakers who are moving our state forward,” Wheatley said on Twitter.
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