This morning Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes announced Tuesday’s progress on signature verifications for the Coeur d’Alene Recall petitions. “With the first day’s work completed, we’re finding most petition signatures are valid”, he said in a news release. “Or few of the petition signatures have been rejected, depending on how you want to look at it”, Hayes continued. (Huckleberries estimates that 20 percent disqualification is needed for the four elected Coeur d'Alene officials to survive the first round of the recall attempt.) Approximate verification percentages for each Council member are:

• Sandi Bloem (5,384 signatures) Accepted: 88% Rejected: 12%
• Deanna Goodlander (5,314 signatures) Accepted: 88% Rejected: 12%
• Mike Kennedy (5,327 signatures) Accepted: 87% Rejected: 13%
• Woody McEvers (5,267 signatures) Accepted: 88% Rejected: 12%

Hayes said most of the invalid signatures were people with a Coeur d’Alene mailing address, but who don’t actually reside within the city limits according to the Secretary of State’s voter registration data base. And he stressed that these percentages are approximate, and “are only one day’s worth of information. The percentages could, and probably will, change tomorrow.”

DFO: If DQ percentage holds, Mayor Sandi Bloem would have 4738 valid signatures for recall (4311 needed); Mike Kennedy 4634; Deanna Goodlander 4676; and Woody McEvers 4635.