Azusa : Petitioners Will Check Tally

Proponents of the failed effort to oust City Councilmen Tony D. Naranjo and Harry L. Stemrich plan to challenge the county registrar-recorder’s count of the signatures on their recall petition in hopes of still forcing an election.

Last week, the registrar indicated that the recall committee headed by Art West had fallen short of the necessary 2,806 signatures, 20% of the city’s voters, required for a recall. On Monday, West and city officials will examine the tally.

Of the 3,578 signatures submitted against Stemrich, only 2,676 were ruled valid by the registrar-recorder. The group submitted 3,556 signatures against Naranjo, 2,680 of which were ruled valid. The remainder were disqualified because petition signers were not registered voters, not Azusa residents, listed wrong or incomplete addresses or had no matching signatures on file for verification.

The petitions failed even without subtracting the names of 102 voters who first signed, but then asked for their names to be removed. A new political group, the Azusa Taxpayers Assn., conducted a direct-mail campaign asking petition signers to reconsider their position.