Kshama Sawant’s opponents submitted petitions that could result in a recall election next February, the Seattle Times reported on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 (read story here).
Sawant (photo, right), 47, is a Seattle City Council member who identifies as a Socialist Alternative candidate. Her tenure has been controversial. You don’t necessarily have to be a rightwing freak to dislike her. This blog’s founder, the late Dr. Steven Schwartz, who wasn’t a conservative, didn’t like her and posted articles critical of her.
The recall campaign submitted 16,273 signatures, according to their website. They need 10,687 valid signatures (i.e., non-duplicate registered voters in her district) to get on the ballot. King County Elections estimates about 20% to 30% of signatures are typically invalid, so in this case they’d need about 14,000 total signatures. They’re well over that, so a recall election appears likely.
However, they’re short of the votes it’ll take to beat her if the turnout is like a normal election. She got 17,170 votes in 2015 (56%) and 22,263 votes in 2019 (52%). But they can take some comfort from her shrinking percentage, and the fact that in a recall election they don’t have to run a candidate against her. Weak candidates in those two elections have a lot to do with her being in office.
Because they missed the deadline for the November 2021 election, she’d more likely land on the Feb. 8, 2022, ballot. Her supporters contend this was intentional so they could boot her in a low-turnout election.
To dive further into this mosh pit of local politics, read this article here.
Booting her out in a low-turnout election sounds like a plan to me 🙂
Whatever works