The campaign to recall three members of the Fullerton City Council turned in far more signatures from registered voters in the city than needed to force a special election, City Clerk Lucinda Williams said Friday.
The campaign submitted more than 17,000 signatures, about 61 percent more than the 10,554 signatures required to qualify for the ballot.
The recall was initiated by local developer Tony Bushala, who also runs the blog “Friends for Fullerton’s Future.” He and other recall backers say the three council members — Mayor Richard Jones and Councilmen Pat McKinley and Donald Bankhead — have mishandled a variety of city issues, including the police beating death of mentally ill transient Kelly Thomas.
Williams said the petitions and signatures will be sent to the county registrar of voters, and each signature will be matched against voter registration records. The verification process must be completed within 30 working days.
Once the registrar’s office certifies there are enough valid signatures, the issue will go to the City Council to set an election date, possibly in conjunction with the June elections.
A campaign opposing the recall distributed cards voters could use to remove their signatures from recall petitions, but only about 150 cards were submitted for each candidate, said Larry Bennett, a city planning commissioner and chairman of Protect Fullerton-Recall No.