Inside Fort Smith has learned that an organized effort for a recall election has started.
It has been launched among a group that branding themselves “concerned citizens” to mount a recall election effort against at least three elected officials for the city of Fort Smith.
At least two citizens, speaking to the issue with a guarantee of anonymity, said the three elected officials are the subject of possible petitions calling for recall elections before their current terms expire. The current terms of all three individuals in questions are set to expire in approximately 27 months.
A third source said the effort had reached the point that the research has been completed on what it will take to legally seek a recall and petition preparation is in the initial stages.
All three sources refused to name the individuals being targeted for recall but said the petition efforts would be launched “one at a time” and if any of the petition requirements were met, the petitioners would be seeking one special election to encompass the process.
The Arkansas State Code that appears to be the basis for the platform for the recall efforts is Code 14-48-114 which states an elected municipal official “of any city organized under the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to removal from the office by the electors qualified to vote for a successor of the incumbent.”
The procedure to effect the removal of a person holding the office shall be as follows:
(1) When petitions requesting the removal of any such officer, signed by qualified electors equal in number to thirty-five percent (35%) of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for that office at the preceding general municipal election at which the office was on the ballot, are filed with the city clerk, the clerk shall determine the sufficiency of the petitions within ten (10) days from the date of the filing;
(2) If the petitions are deemed sufficient, the clerk shall certify them to the county board of election commissioners;
(3) The county board of election commissioners shall issue a proclamation in accordance with 7-11-201 et seq., calling a special election on the question and shall fix a date for holding it not more than ninety (90) days from the date of the certification of the petitions by the clerk.
Depending on the outcome of the special election:
(5) (A) If a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question at the election shall vote for the removal of the officer, a vacancy shall exist in the office.
(B) If a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question at the election shall vote against the removal of the officer, the officer shall continue to serve during the term for which elected.
(c) No recall petition shall be filed against any officer until he or she shall have held his or her office for at least six (6) months.
Recall efforts by Arkansas state law can be held for any reason with petition organizers being able to invoke the process without even stating a supposed justification for the effort.
The petition efforts will be “a grass root, door -to-door” campaign if necessary, according to organizers.
