School Recall Election Misses Ballot Deadline

County elections officials said last week they have verified enough signatures on a petition to call a recall election of three Somis Union Elementary School District board members, but not soon enough for the matter to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Each of three petitions to recall board members Debby Carpenter, Miguel Mejia and Alda Perry included more than 400 signatures. The county verified 334 on each document, enough to warrant a recall, election officials said.

Acting board President Bob Fulkerson held a special meeting Friday morning to set a date for the recall election.

Although 24 people attended the 7 a.m. meeting, the board lacked a quorum and could not vote on the issue, Fulkerson said.

Perry and Mejia were out of town and Carpenter had refused to attend without the other two present. Fulkerson and Beth Miller, the board’s newest member, were the only members in attendance.

Bruce Bradley, the county’s assistant registrar of voters, said the board could not have legally called a recall election at the special meeting. Such a vote, he said, can only be taken at a regular board meeting. The next one is scheduled for Aug. 19.

If the Somis board does not call the election at that meeting, Bradley said the county will have 14 days to set a date.

Bradley estimated the cost of a special recall election at $2,300, compared to $600 for being placed on the Nov. 3 ballot. He said an election could be held as early as Nov. 17, provided that the school board approves a recall election at its Aug. 19 meeting.

If the election date is left to the county to set, Bradley said, “we would prefer it in early January to get the holidays over with.”