A petition to recall Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop was again denied earlier Monday by the Board of State Canvassers.
This is the second recall petition against Bishop that was decided in a split vote along party lines.
The language of the petition was, again, front and center in the debate. Similar to the last Board of State Canvassers hearing in July, Bishop’s lawyer Kevin Kijewski argued successfully that the reason for recall was too vague to proceed.
He said in a statement that the petition "never told the voters what (Bishop) actually did."
Ashley Areeda, the Antrim County resident who filed both petitions, told the board during the hearing she thought the language was exceptionally clear.
“The reason must be written as a factual assertion about the official’s conduct,” she said. “That is exactly what this sentence does. ‘Victoria Bishop made changes to voter records outside her statutory authority.’”
The language was taken from a June letter from the Bureau of Elections reprimanding Bishop on her actions with the voter rolls and revoking her access to the Qualified Voter File.
Chairperson for the Board of State Canvassers, Republican Richard Houskamp held that the petition language was not clear enough, also referencing the letter.
"I would have preferred to have seen something in there that … it doesn’t need voter names, it doesn’t need voter dates, but it certainly needs clear direction that was set out by the letter.”
Vice-chair for the Board of State Canvassers, Democrat Mary Ellen Gurewitz argued the language was sufficient, saying “it’s not simply individual actions, but a course of conduct over many months where the clerk is acting outside of her statutory authority.”
Undeterred by the ruling, Areeda told IPR she’ll be refiling a third petition to recall by Wednesday of this week.
