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Davison Community Schools recall, Michigan (2023)
| Davison Community Schools recall |
|---|
| Officeholders |
Granger Stefanko Holly Halabicky |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2023 Recalls in Michigan Michigan recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall three of the seven members of the Davison Community Schools Board of Education in Michigan did not go to a vote in 2023. Karen Conover, Granger Stefanko, and Holly Halabicky were named in the recall petitions.[1]
The petitions against Conover and Stefanko were approved by the Genesee County Elections Commission in a clarity hearing on June 27, 2023.[2] These were the second recall petitions filed against Conover and Stefanko. The first petitions were rejected in a clarity hearing on June 8, 2023. Halabicky was named in those earlier petitions.[1][3]
The recall effort started after the board voted 4-2 on May 15, 2023, to appoint Diane Rhines to a vacant seat on the board. Rhines, a former member of the board, came in fourth place when she ran for re-election in a race for two seats on the board in 2022. All three members named in the recall petitions voted in favor of the appointment. Kurtis McMahan also voted in favor of the appointment but could not be included in the recall effort as he had not yet served one year on the board.[1]
Recall supporters
The recall petitions were filed by Leonard Marden. All three recall petitions included the board members' votes to appoint Rhines as the reason for recall.[1]
“What is the point of having school board elections and making our voice heard if the first opportunity this board gets to fill an open seat is appointing someone we voted out?” Marden asked. “This goes against our Democracy and community as a whole.”[1]
Recall opponents
Halabicky made the motion to appoint Rhines at the meeting on May 15, 2023. “It is important for us to have a board of education with stability and experience to lead our district and Diane possesses that combination of skills,” Halabicky said.[4]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan
To get a recall on the ballot in Michigan, recall supporters must collect signatures equal in number to 25% of voters in the jurisdiction in the last gubernatorial election. They have 60 days between the collection of the first signature and the collection of the last signature on the petition. Recall petitions are eligible to collect signatures for 180 days.[5]
The first recall petitions against the Davison Community Schools board members were filed with the Genesee County Election Division on May 19, 2023.[1] The petitions were rejected in a clarity hearing by the Genesee County Elections Commission on June 8, 2023.[3] The new petitions were approved by the election commission on June 27, 2023.[2]
A total of 4,633 signatures would have been needed to get the recalls against Conover and Stefanko on the ballot.[6]
2023 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 48 school board recall efforts against 97 board members in 2023. Sixteen of those board members faced recall elections. The recall elections were held on January 10, 2023, August 1, 2023, August 8, 2023, August 29, 2023, November 7, 2023, and December 12, 2023. The school board recall success rate was 13.4%.
The chart below details the status of 2023 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Davison Community Schools, Michigan
- Recall campaigns in Michigan
- Political recall efforts, 2023
- School board recalls
- States that allow school board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 MLive.com, "Recalls filed against three Davison school board trustees after appointment of former trustee," May 19, 2023
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 MLive.com, "Recall language against Davison school board members approved on second attempt," June 27, 2023
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 MLive.com, "Recall language against Davison school board members rejected for missing date, ineligibility," June 8, 2023
- ↑ MLive.com, "Former trustee appointed to fill Davison school board seat," May 16, 2023
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "Recall of Local Officials," accessed July 27, 2021
- ↑ ABC 12 News, "Recall petition approved for two Davison school board members," June 29, 2023
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