The Santa Cruz County Clerk’s office verified on Nov. 20 that Santa Cruz United (SCU) received 15,899 signatures on the petition to recall City Council members Chris Krohn and Drew Glover. SCU needed 15,876 verified signatures to get the recall on the ballot.
About 4,356 additional signatures were deemed invalid for reasons such as duplicate signatures and signatures of unregistered voters. The clerk’s office stopped verifying once the number met the threshold.
With the clerk’s verification, the recall will be put on the March 3 California primary election ballot.
“Our community has sent a clear message that Santa Cruz will not tolerate the divisive and counterproductive climate we have witnessed since January,” said Carol Polhamus, SCU steering committee member, in a press release. “We want solutions-oriented leadership that considers the priorities of the entire community.”
In a press release, SCU listed Krohn and Glover’s handling of the former Ross Camp, allegedly harmful housing policies and alleged violations of the city’s respectful workplace conduct policies as some of the reasons for the recall campaign.
Krohn and Glover denounced SCU’s claims multiple times in statements and online posts arguing the organization gathered signatures on misinformation. Glover and Krohn will need to secure a majority vote in March to keep their positions.
“With rare exceptions, campaigns for the Santa Cruz City Council have been free of nasty attacks,” Krohn said. “That makes it especially disturbing that the recall campaign would resort to slandering my and Drew Glover’s reputation in order to achieve its political aims. I have hope that voters in Santa Cruz will see through the distortions.”
