Their first attempt failed because of a legal technicality. Now, a group of Demorest citizens is back at it again, lining up signatures on applications to recall two city councilmen.
Habersham County Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison Friday issued recall applications for Nathan Davis and John Hendrix. They were obtained by the same group that previously sought to recall the pair of freshmen councilors. That effort failed after dozens of otherwise valid signatures were thrown out because the applications did not comply with the law. According to Ellison, a notary public signed the previous applications as a voter and then notarized it. That is strictly prohibited in the state’s 1989 recall election code.
Ellison noted two other errors on the rejected recall applications for Davis and Hendrix. She says the chairperson did not print her name on the application and the pages were not “bound and numbered” as required by law.
Former Demorest city councilwoman and recall committee member Florence Wikle says she met with Ellison and went over the errors. Wikle says she understands where the group went wrong last time and stresses, it won’t happen again.
“We’re not going to rush it,” Wikle says. “We’re going to make sure we get it right this time.”
The recall committee must obtain at least 100 valid signatures on each of the applications to move the process forward. They have fifteen days to do that.
Ellison tells Now Habersham the recall petitions “will be due back on September 8, 2020, by 5 p.m., since the 15th day is on September 7th, which is Labor Day and all county offices will be closed.”
If the applications are turned in on time and Ellison determines they are sufficient, she will issue the committee recall petitions. Davis and Hendrix may then challenge the grounds for the recall in court. If the judge allows the recall to proceed, the committee will have thirty days to collect approximately 300 signatures.
Wikle and other recall supporters know it won’t be easy, but they’re unfazed.
“We gave them [Davis and Hendrix] the option to step down and they haven’t and they didn’t and that’s now why we’re moving forward with this,” says Demorest resident Heather Dotson.
Dotson has actively worked to instill public accountability within Demorest government. She organized protests outside Demorest City Hall in early May seeking to get City Clerk Kim Simonds to step down after she fired Police Chief Robin Krockum (he was later reinstated). Davis and Hendrix supported the chief’s firing. It was one of several controversial and potentially illegal moves the councilmen have made in their brief time in office.
“There’s no trust right now. It’s just unsettling,” Dotson says.
If the committee succeeds in obtaining enough signatures and their efforts pass legal muster, a recall election could be called early next year.
