Over the last week it became abundantly clear neither the Lee County Board of Elections or the Town of Fort Myers Beach had a clear grasp on the recall process. Recalling elected officials is rare and is mostly unsuccessful.
The first 30-day phase of the campaign to recall Fort Myers Beach Town Council members John King and Karen Woodson is coming to a close. It was roughly 30 days ago that former Town Council member Bill Veach announced he started collecting signatures from registered voters to remove King and Woodson. In phase one, Veach needs 10% of the 3,369 registered voters to sign (337).
As part of our research of the recall process we reached out to Lee County Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle who’s been in his post for nearly a decade and has never had to deal with a recall. Over two weeks ago, in a phone conversation, Doyle told us a recall committee needs to register with a municipality before collecting signatures. We immediately checked with Fort Myers Beach Town Clerk Amy Baker who confirmed Veach had not registered…