Recall, referendum, initiative: not easy processes

Yorba Lindans enjoy the political protections offered by recall, referendum and initiative provisions added to the state constitution during the Progressive movement of the early 1900s, but laws passed to implement these processes make victorious ventures a challenge.

This city has experienced a handful of successful referendums and initiatives, but no City Council member has ever been recalled, despite a number of attempts through the years.

Triumphal referendums and initiatives have dealt with density and development, issues that always have won attention from residents since the 1967 vote for cityhood, partly to put zoning decisions into the hands of locally elected leaders instead of county bureaucrats.

Past petition efforts led to voter rejection of an “apartment zone” in 1970, council back-tracking on a 40-acre auto mall in 1987 and adoption of an ordinance requiring public votes on major zoning changes and abandonment of a high-density Town Center plan, both in 2006.

But four prior recall attempts floundered, with only one gaining traction. Two efforts against John Gullixson, in 1993 and 1999, didn't reach the signature stage, and a 2006 drive targeting Allen Castellano, Ken Ryan, Keri Wilson and Jim Winder sputtered badly.

Opponents of second-term incumbent John Anderson gathered 7,856 signatures, short of the 8,668 necessary for a recall ballot in 2012. The signatures weren't checked against voter registration lists because petitioners didn't have the required number for a legal count.

Anti-Anderson petitioners didn't include his allies Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing in the recall effort, since both were up for re-election later that year. (Schwing won, but Rikel lost.)

Leaders of the current drive against Tom Lindsey and Craig Young are framing the recall largely on density and development decisions made by the pair. But Lindsey's term ends in December, when recall results are likely to be certified, if the recall reaches the Nov 4 ballot.

Gene Hernandez, who recall proponents deride as part of council's “high-density majority” is oddly not a recall target, despite his term running into December 2016, the same as Young's.

The entire recall effort – from an initial “notice to circulate a recall petition” through counting signatures and ballot placement – is governed by a strict set of procedures and time frames outlined in the state election code, and any deviation from the rules can derail the process.

Petitions must follow a specified format, including type size and spacing, and signatures and addresses must match those on voter registration documents. Circulators must be age 18 or over and answer truthfully when asked if they are paid for signatures.

City Clerk Marcia Brown can either verify each signature or a random sample. If a sampling yields more than 110 percent of the required number, the petitions will be certified, but if the sample runs from 90 to 110 percent, all signatures will be examined.