Rick Snyder recall, Michigan (2011)

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An effort to recall Rick Snyder, a Republican elected in 2010, from his position as the Governor of Michigan was launched in May 2011.

On September 30, 2011, the group targeting Snyder announced that it would fall short of its attempt to get on the February 2012 ballot.

Snyder beat Democrat Virg Bernero 58.11% to 39.9% in 2010. Early on, analysts held and recall organizers admitted the likelihood of a successful recall was slim.

Background

The group "Committee to Recall Rick Snyder", who launched a website at FireSnyder.org, support the recall effort. In order to force a recall, the group had to collect 806,522 valid signatures which accounted to 25% of the votes cast in the 2010 gubernatorial election. The deadline for submitting signatures in time to get the recall question on the 2011 ballot was August 5, 2011. The recall group hoped to collect more than 1 million signatures in order to allow for the possibility of some signatures being disqualified.

Their work began in earnest at the end of April, when the election panel of Washtenaw County, where Governor Snyder resides, approved the language of the proposed petition.

An early op-ed held that recall ought to be reserved for corruption and severe negligence, not for a Governor carrying out a controversial policy. The official reason behind the push to recall Snyder was his support for substantial expansion of the power of financial managers addressing dire situations in insolvent municipalities.

Several state legislators were also targeted for recall because of their sport for the emergency manager law. Voters may see a referendum on the issue on the November 6, 2012 statewide ballot.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan

Organizers had to turn in valid signatures equal to 25% of the ballots cast for the Governor in the most recent election; in this case, that threshold was 806,522. Activists aimed for 1.1 million signatures to be on the safe side. They had a 90 day window to reach that number and could not legally submit signatures earlier than July 1, 2011.

Organizers admitted that early fundraising was proceeding slowly and that most of the total raised when they kicked off recall efforts in late May had already been spent on printing costs for petitions.

If Snyder was successfully recalled, he would have faced a special election. It was not yet clear whether he would hold office while awaiting the special election or if Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley would take over.

In late July the organization fired media spokesman Tim Kramer, who said he had no idea why he was removed. He had served in the position since the recall campaign began.

Organizers fell far short of their goal of 807,000 signatures by August 5 in order to get the measure on the November 8 ballot. Committee to Recall Rick Snyder communication director Tom Bryant said they would aim for a September 29 deadline to put it on the February 2012 ballot.

On September 30, 2011, the Committee to Recall Rick Snyder announced that it would fall short of its attempt to get on the February 2012 ballot.

See also

• Recall campaigns in Michigan
• Political recall efforts, 2011
• Laws governing recall in Michigan
• Rick Snyder

External links

• Committee to Recall Rick Snyder Website