Boiler Bay Beacon
NEWPORT, Ore. — A petition to recall Commissioner Claire Hall was submitted to the Clerk’s Office on Monday, carrying 4,882 signatures on 544 pages, gathered over three months by 71 unpaid volunteers. Chief Petitioner Christine Jamison led the effort, which now heads into a verification process that may take up to 30 days.
Hall, first elected in 2004, is currently serving her sixth term. Under Oregon recall law, if the Clerk certifies the petition has met the required threshold of 3,940 valid signatures, Hall will have five business days to resign. If she chooses to remain in office, she will force a recall election to be held.
Jamison said the petition drive surprised organizers by the breadth of support it drew across political lines.
“People assume recalls are driven by one side or the other,” Jamison said Monday. “But in talking with voters all across the county, it became clear this wasn’t about party politics. We cross-checked our signers with their voter registrations, and found only 45.5% are registered Republicans, while the majority are Democrats, Independents, non-affiliated, or in a minor party. It has been truly non-partisan from the start.”
Signature gatherers knocked on doors, and set up outside grocery stores, post offices, and other public areas throughout the county. According to Jamison, the petition saw strong engagement from residents concerned with the direction of county government and a perception of declining transparency.
“We heard from longtime residents, new residents, small business owners, and retirees,” Jamison said. “They had different reasons, but the common thread was a sense that the county needs a change in leadership.”
The Clerk’s office will now review the signatures for validity, comparing each signer to the voter rolls. If certified, the County would schedule a recall election no longer than 35 days after Hall’s response period, most likely on Tuesday, January 13, or Tuesday, January 20.
Hall has not issued a formal statement in response to the petition as of Monday.
