Efforts to recall Councilman Eugene Claire Syrett were leading by a larger margin on Friday afternoon, according to a second round of unofficial election results.
The Lane County election reported 3,900 votes cast as of 4:30 p.m. Friday in the recall election in Ward 7, which includes the Santa Clara, River Road, Trainsong and Whiteaker neighborhood associations.
Of those votes, approximately 2,300 were votes in favor of Claire Syrett’s recall, or 724 ahead of the less than 1,600 votes cast against the recall.
The Recall Campaign and Syrett’s Campaign both said they were reserving comment until the clerk had counted all the ballots.
The petitioners, who began recall efforts in the spring, expressed frustration with Go forwarda multi-year transportation project that could result in dedicated bus lanes for an Emerald Express, or EmX, route on River Road.
They called Syrett saying she hadn’t heard from any landlords along the main hallway with concerns about the proposal despite receiving petitions against the project.
Syrett said people are entitled to have strong opinions about the issues they believe drove the recall effort, but expressed frustration that he chose that path instead of introducing someone. against her in the next elections.
She highlighted her record of fighting climate change, promoting reliable active transportation options, supporting increased police funding through a payroll tax and finding solutions to the ‘roaming.
The extra ballots counted before Friday’s report included ballots that were placed in drop-off sites between Sept. 2 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Lane County Clerk’s Office.
More ballots could arrive in the mail in the coming week as they were due to be postmarked by Tuesday, Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson said.
But she added that it is “very unlikely that we will receive 500 stamped ballots”.
There are less than 100 disputed ballots that could be corrected and counted, Dawson added.
Elections plans to post other results as needed on:
- 5 p.m. September 16
- 5 p.m. September 28
- 5 p.m. October 3
The city recorder has until October 3 to certify the results, but a lawsuit could stop the process in its tracks.
Syrett’s campaign is asking a judge to strike down petitions submitted to qualify the recall and stop certification of the special election.
A complaint filed last month on behalf of the campaign at Lane County Circuit Court claims the recall effort was based on false information about the impacts of MovingAhead.
The petitioners have not yet filed a legal response to the complaint.
Contact City Government Watchdog Megan Banta at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.
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