Mission Viejo Recall Election Forced by Slim Margin : Politics: A well-financed drive got enough petitions signed to require an election in an effort to oust Councilman Robert A. Curtis.

After two days of uncertainty, foes of Mission Viejo City Councilman Robert A. Curtis on Wednesday narrowly won their battle to force a recall election.

“We’re very pleased,” Helen Monroe, chairwoman of the Coalition to Recall Councilman Curtis, said after the final tally of signatures on recall petitions. “We started out cold turkey on this, and now we’re going to have a vote.”

But Curtis appeared confident that he will prevail in the recall election.

“The final count clearly shows that they do not have popular support for the recall,” he said.

The recall campaign features several of the county’s most prominent developers in a well-organized and well-financed effort to unseat Curtis and promises to be a ferocious political battle. Already, observers agree that it could become the young city’s most trying and divisive struggle since it was incorporated in 1988.

The city clerk announced Wednesday afternoon that county officials finished their tally and had counted 7,960 valid signatures among the 12,001 signatures turned by recall proponents on Sept. 28. Proponents needed 7,770 signatures to qualify the issue for the ballot.

Leaders of the recall coalition anxiously had awaited results of the “second pass” through their petitions after city officials revealed Monday that the first screening had left them 477 signatures short of the required number. Preliminary totals from Tuesday’s second count added several hundred signatures, many of which turned up only on the second check because residents had signed petitions using nicknames rather than their legal names.

But even after the early results of the second pass, some petitions were discounted because they were distributed by circulators who had incorrectly completed affidavits.

As final numbers were released Wednesday, it became clear how close the coalition had come to falling short. Of the 7,960 valid signatures, 154 to 160 were distributed by circulators with invalid affidavits.

Further, the victory for recall proponents came amid unconfirmed reports of forgery on some petitions. But regardless, both sides agreed that a recall election is virtually assured.

Curtis claimed some signatures on the petitions were forged and said he would check those allegations. Mayor William S. Craycraft, who often supports Curtis and who contributed to the councilman’s anti-recall campaign, said he too had heard reports of forged signatures but could not confirm them.

“I’ve heard that some signatures may have been forged, and I’m very concerned about that,” Craycraft said. “But I don’t have the authority to order an investigation.”

Monroe said she was unaware of any suspect signatures. “Obviously, we would not condone that in any way,” she said.

Despite some lingering questions about the petitions, the City Council is expected to move quickly to set a special election date. Craycraft and others predicted that the council will vote on the matter Nov. 13 and likely would schedule the election for late February or early March of next year.

“I would look forward to putting this on our agenda and moving ahead as quickly as possible,” Craycraft said.