The change.org signature gathering effort to eventually file a recall petition against Gov. Doug Ducey is still making its rounds.

This symbolic petition, along with two Facebook pages (dun, dun, dun) emerged in March, around the same time Ducey signed a shitty state budget into law that, among other terrible decisions, cut roughly $99 million from universities, and deprived Pima and Maricopa community colleges from any funding, while pouring in close to $40 million for new prisons, and giving corporations and the state’s wealthiest residents tax breaks.

The petition has more than 15,000 signatures, none of which count—at the moment

This is how a recall works in the state, as I wrote about for fun in March:

First, an application for a recall petition must be filed with the Secretary of State’s Office. It has to meet certain requirements for it to be valid. For instance, legitimate concerns—right now it would be Ducey’s budget plans—over actions by that elected official.

Once a petition is approved, it has to gather a certain number of signatures. For Arizona, that is 25 percent of the votes cast in the last election. In November, more than 1.5 million people voted, so the petition needs roughly 400,000 signatures. The petition has to be in circulation for 120 days, and is then turned over to election officials for verification. If all signatures are valid, a recall election is given the green light.

Starting July 5, there’s a 120-day period to present about 376,000 signatures. The individual behind the whole thing says an email will be sent to all who have signed already, so that they can sign the official petition when it comes out.

“WE NEED TO FUEL THIS FIRE!” the petition says. “We cannot forget that Ducey has left our children in the dust. Our voices need to be heard!”

Will it happen? Doubtful, but it’s the thought that counts. 

This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2015.

I was born and raised in Guatemala City, Guatemala. I moved to Tucson about 10 years ago. Since I was old enough to enjoy reading, I developed an interest in writing, and telling stories through different...

10 replies on “Uh Oh: Symbolic Petition to Recall Doug Ducey Still Going Around”

  1. Do I personally like Ducey? No.
    Do I think a recall stands an icicle’s chance in hell of succeeding? No.
    Should we waste State resources in an aborted recall attempt? No.

  2. There was a state senate president who thought he to could not be recalled he no longer has a job in state senate!

  3. I’ll sign the recall petition and vote for almost anyone other than Ducey in a recall election.

  4. It appears that both the state budget and the Pima county budget contain large expenditures for prisons, courts and other enforcement requirements.

    The growth in the general law enforcement budget lines is sucking up funding for road repair and other much needed line items.

    Are we locking up too many non-violent offenders? I don’t know.

  7. Republican’s have been proving how incompetent they are in governing in the states they have won, as a old man I can tell you elections and political party dominance is like the weather it comes and goes and to coin a old corny saying “the sun don’t shine on one dogs tail all the time, it has to shine on some other dogs tail some of the time”!

  8. The prisons are also housing illegals. No federal help? ~ David W

    I would think that a bus ticket to the border is less expensive than a jail cell.

  9. …so, like, where do I sign up for the recall on this, uhh, SOB?
    ~Bob Shank Jr (retired, Raytheon), Senior Information Systems Analyst, Engineering Computing Dept, Information Technology Directorate

Comments are closed.