Nic Recall Faces Monumental Numbers Game Petition To Dump Trustees Who Ousted Bennett Requires At Least 18 Times Initial Vote

North Idaho College students face the daunting task of getting 14,828 petition signatures for each of the three college trustees they hope to recall.

That is as much as 18 times the number of votes it took to elect them.

The situation arises from the fact that the three trustees were elected at different times. However, the number of signatures needed to put the recall on the ballot is based only on the last election.

Kootenai County Clerk Dan English doesn’t think the law is fair. He said Tuesday that he’ll push the Legislature to change it.

“It violates in my mind the spirit of the election process,” English said.

He got confirmation of the high numbers this week from the state attorney general’s office. He doesn’t quibble with the opinion, just the law itself.

“You should rise or fall on the outcome of your own election,” he said. “Maybe turnout was low because it rained that day. Maybe it was high because there was a presidential election.”

Bill Clinton and Bob Dole were pitted against each other last fall, when Barb Chamberlain was elected to the NIC board of trustees. She got elected with 17,075 votes.

Trustees Bob Ely and Jeanne Givens were previously elected with 823 and 796 votes, respectively.

To lose their seats, each trustee would have to get at least as many recall votes as they got initially. That number must also be more than half of the votes cast.

The Associated Students of North Idaho College wants to get rid of the trustees in part because they forced the resignation of NIC President Robert Bennett.

Two other board members, Sue Thilo and Steve Widmyer, quit in the wake of Bennett’s unexplained ouster.

There are only about 52,000 registered voters in the county. Students must get a third of those to sign the recall petitions.

Actually, they must get at least 25 percent more than 17,828, in order to account for the inevitable invalid signatures.

The high numbers aren’t scaring them away.

Renee Scott, ASNIC president, said the students are prepared to collect the signatures as required in the next 60 days.

If they succeed, the recall vote will be on the ballot in November.

City elections will take place then, so English expects a good turnout.

Meanwhile, he plans to push the Legislature to change the law governing future recall elections.

English said he’ll discuss the situation with Deputy Attorney General Matthew McKeown and others when he’s in Boise on Thursday.

“This is a statewide problem,” he said.

, DataTimes