by Nick Castele
The campaign to recall Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson failed to submit enough valid signatures to put the question on the ballot, according to the Cuyahoga County board of elections.
Activists calling for Mayor Jackson’s recall turned in petitions bearing 12,887 signatures. It’s a few hundred more than the minimum necessary to put the issue to a vote.
But of that number, the board of elections validated only 260 names.
Norman Edwards, an organizer of the recall push, emailed a statement Wednesday evening saying the campaign would challenge the board's finding.
"Let there be no doubt that we will appeal the decision of the Board," the statement reads, "and should they not relent we will challenge the Board of Elections in Federal Court for violating the voting rights of Cleveland residents."
Many signatures were thrown out because of a technical error. Elections officials said petition circulators failed to sign and mark petition sheets in the way laid out by state law.
And there were more problems with most of the remaining signatures, according to the board. Signers of recall petitions must be registered Cleveland voters who went to the polls in November 2013. Of the 3,000 signatures that were submitted properly, a couple hundred met those requirements, according to the board.
The recall campaign will have 20 days to collect and resubmit valid signatures.
