City Clerk explains next steps in the Madison Nguyen recall issue

The Bolsavik was forwarded the email that follows, purportedly from the San Jose City Clerk Lee Price, detailing the next steps after people seeking the recall of Councilwoman Madison Nguyen (pictured) turned in more than 5000 signatures. The Bolsavik hasn’t verified it, but it seems legitimate enough.

Anyway, according to this letter, it’s now too late for Madison Nguyen’s camp to try to get people to retract; apparently the deadline to retract was 5pm the day the petition was turned in.

Also, it seems that if the City Clerk’s Office certifies the petition as insufficient, that decision cannot be challenged — but the email says nothing about appealing a certification of the petition as sufficient.

Full text of the email follows after the jump. The “ROV” in the letter is short for Registrar of Voters. The verification must be done by the ROV because the signatures must be of registered voters in Madison Nguyen’s district.

From:   Price, Lee 
Sent:   Monday, September 01, 2008 2:46 PM
To:     #CityCouncil_PO; #MayorPO; Figone, Debra; Doyle, Richard; Attard, Barbara; Mavrogenes, Harry; Erickson, Sharon
Cc:     #CityClerkPO
Subject:        Recall Petition Filed; Next Steps
 
 
On Friday, August 30th, the proponents of the recall effort filed their petition.  On prima facie review, we determined that the petition has approx 5,181 signatures (raw count); which exceeds the required number of qualified signatures needed (3,162). Tomorrow morning Dennis and I will take the petition to the County ROV for verification.  The process, under State law, will be as follows:

1) The ROV has 30 days from the date of the filing of the petition, excluding weekends and holidays, to determine if the petition is sufficient or insufficient.

2) The ROV will conduct a random, statistical sampling for verification of signatures.  The random sample of signatures to be verified will be conducted using the ROV’s trusted computerized program.  The random sampling will incude an examination of 500 signatures (the law specifies 5% or 500 whichever is greater).  Requests to withdraw received and on file in my office as of 5:00 p.m. the day before the petition was submitted will be verified, factored in and honored (there were 147 received).

3) If the statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures is greater than 110 percent of the required number (3,162), the petition will be certified sufficient.  In that case, Council action to call a special election will be required within 14 days of the date the ROV certifies the petition to be sufficient.

4) If the statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures is within 90 to 110 percent of the number of signatures of qualified voters needed to declare the petition sufficient, the ROV will be obligated to examine and verify each signature filed.  If the number verified is greater than 3,162, then the petition will be deemed sufficient.  If the number is less than 3,162, then the petition will be certified as insufficient.

5) If the statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures is less than 90 percent of the required number, the ROV shall certify the petition to be insufficient.

6) If the petition is certified insufficient, there is no challenge process available to the proponents.

I will continue to keep the Mayor/Council and Council Appointees apprised of the status of the petition verfication process.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Lee Price, MMC
City Clerk
City of San Jose
200 East Santa Clara Street – Wing 2nd Floor
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 535-1252
(408) 292-6207 (FAX)
lee.price@sanjoseca.gov