The three petitioners seeking to initiate a recall election of three Las Cruces city councilors have failed to collect the required number of valid signatures.
City Clerk Esther Martinez-Carrillo Friday notified petitioners for districts 3 and 5 by phone. Under the City Charter, the petitioners must also be notified by certified mail. The city clerk has so far been unable to reach the petitioner for district 4.
According to Martinez-Carrillo, the petitioners will have 15 calendar days from Friday to notify the city clerk’s office in writing of their desire to file a “notice of intention to amend” their petitions. Doing so would allow the petitioners an additional 15 days to collect signatures.
The subjects of recall are Olga Pedroza, Dist. 3, Nathan Small, Dist. 4 and Gill Sorg, Dist. 5.
The following are the required number of signatures for each district and the actual number of valid signatures collected:
District Needed Collected
3 949 586
4 839 677
5 1,091 996
If the petitioners decide to amend their petitions and successfully gather the required number of valid signatures, the paperwork for a recall election would go before City Council in the form of a resolution. If the council approves the resolution, the city clerk’s office would conduct a special election within 60 calendar days.
Information from city of Las Cruces