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Recall Your Elected Official

Details

School budgets are currently being evaluated by the town councils of each individual town where the budget was rejected by the voters. Each town council will either respect the will of the voters and recommend significant cuts to the budget or they will reject the voter's wishes and recommend budgets without any substantial cuts.

When these official's seek reelection we must remember how they acted. Or we can act now. You may consider recalling your elected official. According to NJ 29:27A the procedure to start the process is:

  1. Form a committee of at least three registered voters in the town of the official you are trying to recall. Note also that they can not serve on any other recall committee.
  2. Prepare a filing that indicates the name of your committee (Committee to Recall John Doe), the name of the official you are recalling, the position you seek to remove him from (i.e. Township Committee), and whether or not you want a special election.

    You must also include a certification in the filing that each member of the recall committee is a registered voter in the town, they support the recall of the official, and that they accept the responsibilities of serving on the recall committee. Have all committee members sign it. Include their full name and address. Optionally you can include a short statement detailing the reason you are seeking recall.
  3. Send this filing via registered mail to the Secretary of State and to the named official. You may also send copies to the press and to the state Division of Elections.
Once the statement is filed, the state has three days to accept or reject your filing. Once it is accepted the state has five days to notify the official and two weeks to publish it in a newspaper.

At this point you can begin to collect signatures on a petition. You must get at least 25% of the registered voters to sign the petition. All petitioners must reside in the town as well. A sample petition can be found here. Note that in most cases all signature must be obtained with 160 days of final approval of the recall process by the state.

If you raise or spend any funds you may also need to report the source of those funds. See the Reporting by Recall Candidates and Committees Packet.

I recommend that you review the actual text of Title 19:27A.