Recall election organizers who circulate petitions that fall short of the required minimum signatures or are otherwise shelved when such campaigns are disbanded should nevertheless have to submit the petitions to the state, says Secretary of State Jan Brewer.

An elections provision requiring just that (violation was a Class 1 misdemeanor) went into effect in 1992, but was repealed by the Legislature in 1995 (H2020, sponsored by then-Rep. Sue Lynch).

And Mrs. Brewer says hopefuls for political office who gather signatures and then decide not to run also should have to submit their petitions to the secretary of state.

She said, “If I decided to run for secretary of state and I went out an got 1,000 signatures or 5,000 signatures and then all of a sudden I say, “Well, I’m not running,’ do I go back and notify all those people, because they can’t sign someone else’s petition; they’ve already signed mine. Now, there’s something we need to address at the Legislature.”

When a recall drive against Sen. John Huppenthal, R-20, was called off in May, he told Arizona Capitol Times he was under the impression state law required the Recall Huppenthal committee to submit the signatures it had gathered. He since learned the law had been repealed.

Recall Chair: Petitions Were Shredded

“You’d think a senator would know that,” said Kim Andrade, chairman of the recall committee. She said July 13 that more than 5,000 signatures had been obtained, but the petitions were shredded because they contained information that could be stolen by identity thieves.

Had the group pursued the recall, it was required to turn in 16,422 valid signatures of registered voters by July 15 to bring about a special election. Instead, it abandoned its efforts, saying the recall drive itself caused Mr. Huppenthal to modify his politics and because Governor Napolitano vetoed the guns in bars bill, which the senator supported.

Mr. Huppenthal said he has always doubted the recall group had 5,000 signatures.

“I figured about 1,700,” he said, adding that had there been a requirement that the signatures had to be filed with the state, “I thought it would be an interesting way to show their hand.”

Asked if he would pursue a change in the law regarding signature submissions, he said, “I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

In response to the recall filing, Mr. Huppenthal, who ran last year with Clean Elections funding, filed the Keep John Huppenthal Working for Us Committee in March, which took in around $8,000 in private donations. With most of that money, he said, Mr. Huppenthal sent out a four-color mailer to district voters, touting his record as a legislator.

“I am responding to the issues they [recall proponents] raised,” he said.

Autumn Southard, Clean Elections voter education manager, said a publicly funded candidate may receive public funds if a recall election is scheduled against them, otherwise they may raise private funds prior to a recall election.

Mrs. Brewer says voters who have signed petitions for a candidate who decides not to run become “disenfranchised” because they are not permitted to sign another petition for the same office. —