A petition to recall Mayor Jyoti Gondek racked up 72,271 signatures in the 60-day period allotted and was submitted to the City of Calgary Thursday afternoon. Calgary business owner Landon Johnson, the petition’s organizer, submitted a notice of recall petition against Gondek on January 30 and after the City of Calgary verified it complies with the recall criteria as laid out in the Municipal Government Act, the petition was made public February 5, kicking off the 60-day window. Johnson had until 4 p.m. on April 4 to collect 514,284 signatures — 40% of the electorate — from voting-age Calgarians.That makes the Recall Gondek campaign short 442,284 signatures. However, critics have done the math and pointed out how many days it would take to garner such a high number of signatures. Johnson’s approximately 72,000 signatures collected over 60 days works out to an average 1,200 signatures a day. At that rate, it would take 428 days to get the required amount of John Hancocks. It is now up to the City Clerk's Office to “determine the sufficiency or insufficiency of the recall petition within 45 days.”In that time period, Elections Calgary will count signatures and “verify the petition,” looking for enough signatures to represent at least 40% of the population in the municipality. “If the total count fails to meet the 40% population threshold, no further verification will be completed,” reads the City of Calgary website. “If the 40% population threshold is met, Elections Calgary will then use a random statistical sampling method with a 95% confidence level to determine the sufficiency or insufficiency of the petition.”This step in the verification process is a thorough one — Elections Calgary will go over each signature to make sure the “legislatively required information was provided,” and confirm that each signature was accompanied by that of an adult witness — “and that the witness signed the required affidavit.”Further, Elections Calgary will ensure certain technicalities are met, such as having the “notice of recall petition” on each page. “Incomplete or invalid signatures are screened out and are not included in the final count,” says the City of Calgary, maintaining the right to pull the petition “if it becomes clear during any part of the verification process the final count will not meet the 40% threshold.Johnson will not be allowed to observe the verification province, as per city policy. “There is no provision for individuals to observe or scrutinize the verification process,” the website states, providing a link to the page where the outcome will be displayed.
