AB 2584 amends existing law and provides a number of changes to recall elections and petitions. It increases the number of signatures required based on the number of registered voters in the electoral jurisdiction.
The bill requires a recall petition to recall a member of the governing board of a school district including an estimate of the cost of conducting the special election. The estimate may be obtained from the county elections official in consultation with the school district.
The bill requires that for a petition for the recall of a local officer the county elections official shall make a copy of the recall petition available for public examination for 10 days, which shall run concurrently with the 10-day review period for the elections official to determine the sufficiency of the petition. The bill authorizes a voter of the applicable electoral jurisdiction or the elections official, during those 10 days, to seek a writ of mandate or injunction requiring any or all of the statements of the proponents or the answer of the officer to be amended or deleted. The bill requires a court to issue a writ of mandate or injunction only upon clear and convincing proof that the material in question is false, misleading, or inconsistent with the applicable requirements for recall petitions.
Existing law requires the governing board of a local government entity to issue an order calling an election if the elections official certifies to the board that the recall proponents gathered sufficient signatures to hold a recall election for an officer of the local government entity. Existing law requires the election to be held not less than 88 days and not more than 125 days from the issuance of the order.
This bill permits the election to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election conducted within 180 days after the issuance of the order.
(AB 2584 amends Sections 1020, 11022, 11024, 11041, and 11242 of, and adds Section 11042.5 to, the Elections Code.)