August 04, 2011 7:02 PM
THE GAZETTE
A recall election targeting two board members in Ellicott School District 22 moved one step closer to reality Thursday.
The El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office declared the signatures sufficient to require a recall election on Gary Lake and Stef Dickinson.
The clock is now ticking on a 15-day protest period which ends Aug. 18.
“We’ve been down this road before,” Dickinson said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Lake could not be reached for comment.
Lake could not be reached for comment.
Elections officials reviewed more than 900 signatures on the recall petitions. There were 426 valid signatures for Dickinson out of 450 submitted, and for Lake there were 419 valid signatures out of 444 submitted. The committee leading the recall effort needed at least 236 signatures for each board member.
“It was a clean petition,” said county Elections Manager Liz Olson, adding that a relatively small number of signatures were dismissed.
Signatures were deemed invalid if the signer was not registered to vote, or if addresses for voter registration and that given on the petition did not match, she said. Some signatures were dropped because the sign-date fell outside the collection time.
During the protest period, the targeted office holders and others may review the petitions and submit their concerns. All protests must be filed in writing.
If no protests are filed, an election must be held between 45 and 75 days of when the petitions were approved, making it likely that the election would be held before the regular Nov. 1 election, Olson said.
“I personally would be surprised if no one protested,” she said.
Gary Dahn, his son Michael Dahn, and Chuck Howarth are named as committee leaders on the petitions.
It’s the second time in two years that a group has attempted to recall board members District 22. The county clerk denied the first effort, saying some petitioners shared misleading information.
The petitions argue that Lake and Dickinson have shown poor fiscal oversight, failed to improve education performance in the district, have not addressed a teacher retention problem and do not communicate effectively.
Dickinson and Lake have two years left in their terms. Two other board members, targeted in last year’s recall effort, are up for election in November.
