Tuesday, June 3, 2013 • Clerk says Hanson recall petition is sufficient

Publisher’s note:  This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, June 3, 2013 edition of the Lassen County Times.

Lassen County District 5 voters have an opportunity to keep their supervisor in office or replace him with someone else in a recall election to be held this fall.

Lassen County Clerk Julie Bustamante announced Friday, May 24 the petition to recall District 5 Supervisor Jack Hanson was sufficient because it had collected enough valid signatures.

On April 16 visiting judge Charles H. Ervin ordered Bustamante to accept about 70 pages of recall petitions she had previously rejected because of a typographical error.

Ervin called the error “miniscule” and “trivial” and said it did not affect the intent of those who signed the petitions seeking Hanson’s recall.

In an email statement written prior to the judge’s decision, Bustamante wrote, “I followed the election law as I was trained to do, and I did my job correctly, regardless how unpopular the decision. I told the proponents a judge could order me to accept petitions that were circulated incorrectly, but under my authority I could not accept the petition because it did not comply with the election law.”

In his tentative ruling, Ervin ordered the clerk to move the recall process forward if the proponents collected at least 594 signatures.

According to Ervin’s order, “The doctrine of substantial compliance governs the disposition in this case. With respect to initiatives, substantial compliance is measured by asking whether the failure to comply with the law frustrates the constitutional and statutory goals of giving the electorate pertinent information about the measure. The doctrine of substantial compliance does allow insignificant differences, minor departures from legal requirements and inadvertent mistakes, as long as they do not affect the meaning of the proposed initiative. Similarly, provisions relating to recall petitions are given liberal interpretation with the view of promoting the purposes for which they are enacted, and the substantial compliance standard is applied.”

Rhetta Vander Ploeg, Lassen County counsel, argued the issue was not a misspelling of a name.

But Steven King, Hammond’s attorney disagreed.

“This case is all about giving the voters an opportunity to make the decision,” King said. “It should be the people’s call.”

Hanson declined to comment at this time.

District 5 resident and recall proponent Tom Hammond brought the court action after Bustamante rejected the petition forms several months ago.

Bustamante said she plans to present a Certificate of Sufficiency to the board of supervisors June 11. The board then has 14 days to call for the recall election.

If the board fails to act within 14 days, Bustamante has five days to set the date of the election.

In any case, according to a press release from the county clerk, the election shall be held not less than 88, nor more than 125 days after the issuance of the order. If the board issues the order at its June 11 meeting, the election will be held between Sept. 7 and Oct. 14 — perhaps as early as Tuesday, Sept. 10.

Nomination papers and declarations of candidacy for those wishing to succeed Hanson must be filed not less than 75 days prior to the election and not before the date the order is issued. Candidates must be registered voters of the district in which the duties of the office are to be exercised at the time nomination papers are issued.

Bustamante said if the election were held Sept. 10, the period for candidates to file would run between June 11 and June 27.

Should a candidate defeat Hanson in the recall election, they would serve the remainder of the term that ends Jan. 5, 2015.

According to Bustamante’s release, “This election will be decided by approximately 2,500 voters, of which a minimum of 1,800 voters will be voting by mail.  It will consist of four polling locations, including the old courthouse. Supervisor Hanson’s current seat will be on the ballot during the June 3, 2014 Primary Election, and expires on Jan. 5, 2015.  The declaration of candidacy period for that seat will be from February 10, 2014 through March 7, 2014.”