Local (County, Municipal [City], and District) Recalls

« Back to Recalls, Initiatives and Referendums

The Sonoma County Registrar of Voters is the elections official for county and district recalls. City/town clerks are the elections officials for recalls against their respective city/town's elected officials. Please direct any questions about city/town recalls to the appropriate city/town clerk. Below is a list of steps in the local recall process. California law prescribes certain deadlines for the recall process. Please refer to the appropriate code sections or consult a lawyer for advice about the deadlines.

Deadline	Step	Elections Code
	Proponents serve copy of notice of intention on officer sought to be recalled by either personal delivery or certified mail.	11021
Within 7 days of serving notice of intention	Proponents file original notice of intention with elections official along with affidavit of time and manner of service.	11020, 11021
*	Proponents publish notice of intention in a newspaper of general circulation and obtain proof of publication.	11022
Within 7 days of proponents filing original notice of intention with elections official	Recalled officer serves copy of answer to notice of intention on proponents by personal delivery or certified mail and files original answer to notice of intention with elections official.	11023
Within 10 days of recalled officer filing answer (or expiration of response period if no answer filed)	Proponents file two blank copies of draft petition with elections official along with proof of publication of notice of intention.	11042
Within 10 days of filing two blank copies of draft petition	Elections official notifies proponents whether petition is found to meet requirements. If yes, petition is approved and signature circulation can begin. If no, elections official informs proponents which alterations are needed. Proponents must file two copies of a revised petition within 10 days. Repeat this step until petition is approved.	11042
40–160 days from date petition is approved. Specific Length of signature collection period is based on number of registered voters in electoral jurisdiction as of last report of registration sent to Secretary of State: 40 days if less than 1,000 registered voters 60 days if less than 5,000 registered voters but at least 1,000 90 days if less than 10,000 registered voters but at least 5,000 120 days if less than 50,000 registered voters but at least 10,000 160 days if 50,000 registered voters or more	Proponents can begin circulating recall petition. For number of signatures required, see EC 11221.	11220
Prior to signature collection deadline (see previous step)	Proponents file recall petition signatures with elections official.	11220, 11222
Within 60 days of filing (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays). However, if 60 days would cause the recall to be ineligible to be combined with the next regularly scheduled election, then the deadline is shortened to within 30 days of filing (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays).	Registrar of Voters Office examines recall petition and determines how many signatures are valid and if number is sufficient to qualify recall for the ballot. If 500 or fewer signatures are submitted, Registrar of Voters Office has 60 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) to verify all signatures. If number of valid signatures is found to be less than number needed, Registrar of Voters certifies petition to be insufficient and no further action is taken. If number of valid signatures is found to be greater than or equal to number needed, Registrar of Voters certifies petition to be sufficient. If greater than 500 signatures are submitted, Registrar of Voters Office has 60 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) to verify a random sampling of 500 signatures or 5 percent of the signatures submitted (whichever number is greater). If number of valid signatures in sample is found to be less than 90% of number needed, Registrar of Voters certifies petition to be insufficient and no further action is taken. If number of valid signatures in sample is found to be between 90% and 110% of number needed, Registrar of Voters Office shall verify all signatures submitted. If number of valid signatures is found to be less than number needed, Registrar of Voters certifies petition to be insufficient and no further action is taken. If number of valid signatures is found to be greater than or equal to number needed, Registrar of Voters certifies petition to be sufficient. If number of valid signatures in sample is found to be greater than 110% of number needed, Registrar of Voters certifies petition to be sufficient and takes next step.	11222, 11223, 11225
Next regular meeting of governing board of jurisdiction after petition has been certified as sufficient (see previous step)	Elections official certifies petition to be sufficient to governing board of jurisdiction at its next regular meeting.	11224, 11225
Within 14 days of meeting	Governing board of jurisdiction issues order stating recall election shall be held.	11240, 11242
Within 88 - 125 days of election order (or within 180 days of election order if additional time allows election to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election)	Date range when recall election must be held (no election shall be held on any day other than a Tuesday, nor shall any election be held on the day before, the day of, or the day after, a state holiday)	1100, 11242

*There is no specific deadline for publication of the notice of intention in a newspaper of general circulation. However, proof of publication must be filed at the same time that two blank copies of the draft recall petition are filed with the elections official (EC 11042).