West recall supporters plan big weekend effort

Supporters of a recall petition to oust Spokane Mayor Jim West will make a big push this weekend to obtain all the signatures they think they will need to get the proposal on the ballot.

Recall sponsor Shannon Sullivan estimated Friday the group needed another 8,000 signatures to meet a goal of 17,000 they have set for the drive. But she said she doesn’t know how to estimate the number of signatures that have been gathered on petitions that have gone out and not returned.

“We’re asking if they could please have them in by Monday evening so we can have an official count,” Sullivan said.

An attorney for West said the mayor’s supporters are likely to become active in the near future.

“There have been many e-mails, telephone calls and letters of support received in just the last week regarding Mayor West,” Bill Etter said in an e-mail. “Included have been many offers to assist the mayor in the recall campaign and in the coming weeks we anticipate there will be an active group of support for Mayor West.”

Both sides will have to file financial disclosure statements for their efforts with the state Public Disclosure Commission on Tuesday.

The petition drive will have a booth at Pig Out in the Park and volunteers walking through Riverfront Park with petitions on clipboards, Sullivan said. Other volunteers will have petitions at the south and west entrances to NorthTown Mall today through Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; at the Indian Trails Yoke’s store today and Sunday; at Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on North Division part of the day; and at the “drive-through” location at 2319 N. Division around the clock.

Sullivan said the petition drive will set up more locations if volunteers are available.

Volunteers also are going door to door in some parts of Spokane, she said.

Recall supporters need 12,567 valid signatures from registered city voters to get the proposal on a ballot. Most petition drives have between 20 percent and 30 percent of the signatures they gather invalidated because the signers aren’t registered or don’t live in the area covered by the proposal. Because of that, Sullivan said, volunteers are shooting for about 17,000 signatures before turning petitions in to the County Elections Office.

Late this week, recall supporters added a new list to their tables for people who don’t live in the city to sign, to show they back the recall but aren’t eligible to sign the petition. That may cut down on invalid signatures on the petitions, Sullivan said.

Under state law, recall supporters have 180 days to collect signatures, but Sullivan said she hopes to turn in all the signatures early next week in an effort to have them validated in time to put the proposal on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. County Auditor Vicky Dalton has said it’s unlikely the signatures can be verified before Sept. 23, the deadline for putting issues on that ballot. The law requires a five-day waiting period while everyone involved in the recall receives official notification before verification can start, and elections staff will be tied up with the Sept. 20 primary for part of the month.

If signatures are verified after Sept. 23, a special city election would be held between 45 and 60 days after the verification is complete, Dalton said. That would cost the city about $140,000 for an all-mail election, and slightly more if voters could go to poll sites.