Juan Carlos Escamilla recall, San Luis, Arizona (2011)

Recall
Historical recalls
Recall news
Recall laws

An effort to recall Juan Carlos Escamilla from his position as Mayor of San Luis in Yuma County was abandoned in November 2011 after recall organizers failed to collect enough signatures.

Reasons for recall

A group called “For a San Luis with a Future" was responsible for launching two recall efforts against Escamilla in 2011. The recall efforts began after utility rates were increased and city employees were laid off. The first recall effort also targeted several city council members, but recall proponents decided to focus their second effort exclusively on recalling the mayor.

Path to the ballot

The first batch of signatures that was turned in was deemed invalid as it did not follow state guidelines. Escamilla stated that he had spoken to residents who had said that they were not told what the petition was for, and were led to believe that signing it would block utility rate hikes. Alejandrina Cabrera, the head of the recall effort, said that the group has not deceived anyone and that everyone who is asked to sign is told what the petition is for.

Recall proponents needed to collect a minimum of 670 petition signatures from registered voters in order to force a recall election. Supporters collected 886 petition signatures, all but 60 of which were deemed valid in a preliminary review by the city clerk's office. The city clerk's office had about two months to conduct a secondary review of the signatures.

The secondary review found that the recall effort fell 66 signatures short.

If enough signatures would have been validated, the recall question would have appeared on the ballot of the city's regularly scheduled primary election in March 2012.

See also

• Recall campaigns in Arizona
• Political recall efforts, 2011
• County official recalls

Additional reading

• The Yuma Sun, "Recall underway in San Luis against mayor, council members," April 27, 2011