Notes on a Recall

Many citizens of Park County are receiving information regarding the recall efforts of Carrie Marsh and Robb Green. Marsh/Green have headed up the recall of Dave Wissel county commissioner elected in November 2022.

Here are the details:

If the recall is successful this will be held as a special election in January of 2024

The special election will cost the taxpayers of Park County $78,529

The petitions were approved for circulation on August 22, 2023

The recall committee is required to collect 2471 signatures of the registered voters in Park County

Signatures are due in to the County Clerk October 21, 2023 (this is a Saturday and this date could vary)

The County will have up to 28 days to verify signatures after they are turned in.

The laws regarding a recall are found in Title 1.

Please be aware of a few items when you are signing a recall petition:

Anything other than the grounds are an opinion of the grounds statement and can be misleading as to why you are signing the petition.

1-12-103. Petition for recall - statement of grounds. Eligible electors of the state or a political subdivision may initiate the recall of an elected official by signing a petition that demands the election of a successor to the officer named in the petition. The petition must contain a general statement, consisting of two hundred words or less, stating the ground or grounds on which the recall is sought. The general statement shall not include any profane or false statements. The statement is for the information of the electors who are the sole and exclusive judges of the legality, reasonableness, and sufficiency of the ground or grounds assigned for the recall. The ground or grounds are not open to review.

Here is the 200 word statement:

Signatures must be gathered in person and be wet signatures.

1-12-108(5)(b) Every petition for a county or school district officer shall be signed only by active registered electors who are not required to submit a copy of their identification with their mail ballot under section 1-7.5-107 (3.5). (c) Unless physically unable, all electors shall sign their own signature and shall print their names, respective residence addresses, including the street number and name, the city or town, the county, and the date of signature. Each signature on a petition must be made, to the extent possible, using a pen. If, while verifying a signer's information against the registration records in accordance with subsection (8) of this section, the designated election official finds that the signer provided his or her mailing address rather than his or her residence address, the designated election official may accept the signature line as valid if the designated election official is able to locate the signer's record in the statewide voter registration database and determines that the signer was eligible to sign the petition. (d) Any person, except a circulator, may assist an elector who is physically unable to sign the petition in completing the information on the petition as required by law. On the petition immediately following the name of the elector receiving assistance, the person providing assistance shall sign, provide the person's address, and state that the assistance was given to the elector.

The petition circulator requesting your signature must read and understand the laws governing the circulation of recall petitions.

1-12-108(6)(e)(II) That the circulator has read and understands the laws governing the circulation of recall petitions;

If you change your mind after you have signed the petition and want your signature removed you can file a written request by mail, email or hand delivery to the County Clerk.

1-12-108(9) (d) (I) At any time before the designated election official submits a certificate of sufficiency pursuant to section 1-12-111, any signer may request that his or her name be stricken from the petition by filing with the designated election official a written request that his or her signature be stricken. If the request is delivered to the designated election official through the United States mail, it is deemed delivered to the designated election official on the date shown by the cancellation mark on the envelope containing the request received by the member of the committee or the designated election official. If the request is submitted to the designated election official by e-mail, it is deemed delivered on the date and time it is shown to be sent. If the request is delivered to the designated election official in any other manner, it is deemed delivered to the designated election official on the date of delivery and stamped receipt by the designated election official.