PORT TOWNSEND — The instigators of a recall action against two Quilcene fire commissioners appeared to have gathered enough signatures to force a vote.
But the petitions might have been improperly prepared, the Jefferson County Auditor’s Office said Monday.
A group that included Linda Saunders and Harry Goodrich, who seek to oust Jefferson County Fire District No. 2 Commissioners Dave Ward and Mike Whittaker, arrived at the courthouse Monday with 25 percent more signatures than were needed to put the initiative on the February ballot.
They submitted the petitions to Jefferson County Auditor Donna Eldridge.
But after researching regulations and issuing a receipt for 79 pages of petitions, Eldridge determined that the petitions may need to be submitted on a form that numbered each line.
The matter has been forwarded to Chief Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Alvarez, who will rule whether the petitions can be accepted as is or if the signatures will need to be gathered again — on ruled paper.
Eldridge said she did not know when Alvarez will be able to decide on the matter.
“It’s not uncommon for petitions to be submitted that are improperly prepared,” Eldridge said.
“In those cases, the petitioners fix whatever is wrong and then resubmit them.”
Saunders asked to retrieve the petitions but that was not allowed, because once something is turned into the Auditor’s Office it cannot be returned.
When petitions are submitted, the auditor must certify them by verifying each signature.
After certification, the petition becomes public record and is subject to information requests.
Petition-gathering began Aug. 9 with 180 days given to gather the signatures.
At the submission of the petitions, Eldridge told the group that a special election could be held before Christmas.
Proponents were intending to get the matter on the Feb. 12 ballot.
Eldridge later said an election before Christmas was still possible if the signatures were allowed.
Saunders said it would be “a lot of work” to gather all of the signatures again, but that it could be accomplished in a short time frame.
Saunders said the group exceeded the required number of votes in case any signatures were disqualified.
The required number is based on a percentage of votes cast in the last election.
Both commissioners were unopposed, with Whittaker getting 554 votes in 2009 and Ward receiving 510 votes in 2007.
For the recall to go forward, proponents needed to gather 194 signatures to recall Whittaker and 179 to recall Ward.
They gathered 242 to recall Whittaker and 244 to recall Ward, Sanders said.
Whittaker and Ward have been under fire since 2010 over allegations of impropriety regarding the creation of a chief operating officer job for the fire district and the hiring of Ward for that position.
Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Anna Laurie ruled in October that one charge — that Whittaker and Ward participated in falsifying meeting minutes — was sufficient to allow the recall effort to proceed.
She struck down three other allegations brought by the plaintiffs.
Whittaker and Ward appealed to the state Supreme Court to strike down the remaining charge. In July, the court gave notice of ruling against the appeal.
Shane Seaman, attorney for Whittaker and Ward, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
