Georgia lays down specific rules for recall

ALBANY – As recall efforts of elected officials are reverberating across the nation at every level, from federal to local, a look at Georgia code related to the topic seems appropriate. The recall of public officers in Georgia is addressed in Georgia Code Title 21 — Elections, Chapter 4 — Recall of Public Officers, known as the “Recall Act of 1989.”

Chapter 4 outlines offices that are subject to recall, the number of electors needed to demand recall, and the grounds necessary for recall. It reads:

(a) Every public official who holds elective office, either by election or by appointment, is subject to recall from office by electors who are registered and qualified to vote in the recall election and who reside in the electoral district from which candidates are elected to that office:

— (1) In the case of a state officer whose electoral district encompasses the entire state, the number of electors necessary to petition the recall of the officer shall be equal to at least 15 percent of the number of electors who were registered and qualified to vote at the last preceding election for any candidate offering for the office held by the officer. At least one-fifteenth of the number of electors necessary to petition the recall of the officer must reside in each of the United States congressional districts in the state as said congressional districts may now or hereafter exist; or

— (2) In the case of a state officer whose electoral district encompasses only a part of the state or in the case of a local officer, the number of electors necessary to petition the recall of the officer shall be equal to at least 30 percent of the number of electors registered and qualified to vote at the last preceding election for any candidate offering for the office held by the officer.

(b) No recall petition shall demand the recall of more than one public official.

(c) Every public official who holds elective office, either by election or by appointment, is subject to recall on the grounds that such public official has, while holding any public office, conducted himself or herself in a manner which relates to and adversely affects the administration of his or her current office and adversely affects the rights and interests of the public if one or more additional grounds for recall exist as set forth in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (7) of Code Section 21-4-3.

a) All signers of a single recall petition shall be electors who are registered and eligible to vote in the recall election and who reside in the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled. When a petition for the recall of a public official is circulated in more than one county, each sheet of the petition shall bear the name of the county in which it is circulated, and only electors of the designated county may sign such sheet. No recall petition shall be circulated or signed by any person in any location where alcoholic beverages are sold or served.

(b) Every elector signing a recall petition shall do so in the presence of the person circulating the petition, who is to execute the affidavit of verification on the reverse side of the petition form. At the time of signing, the elector shall sign his name, and such elector or the person circulating the petition shall print the name of the elector below the elector’s signature and shall print or write in the appropriate spaces following the signature the elector’s residence address, giving number and street or route and city, the name of the county, and the date on which the elector signed the petition. No notary public may sign the petition as an elector or serve as a circulator of any petition which he or she notarized. Any and all sheets of a recall petition that have the circulator’s affidavit notarized by a notary public who also served as a circulator of one or more sheets of the recall petition or who signed one of the sheets of the petition as an elector shall be disqualified and rejected.

(c) If an elector is incapable of signing his or her own name, he or she may specifically request the circulator of the petition to sign and print his or her name and complete the information required on the petition sheet to accompany the signature; provided, however, that the circulator shall also sign his or her full name beside the printed name of such elector.

7) “Grounds for recall” means:

(A) That the official has, while holding public office, conducted himself or herself in a manner which relates to and adversely affects the administration of his or her office and adversely affects the rights and interests of the public; and

(B) That the official:

(i) Has committed an act or acts of malfeasance while in office;

(ii) Has violated his or her oath of office;

(iii) Has committed an act of misconduct in office;

(iv) Is guilty of a failure to perform duties prescribed by law; or

(v) Has willfully misused, converted or misappropriated, without author, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed.

Discretionary performance of a lawful act or a prescribed duty shall not constitute a ground for recall of an elected public official.

(8) “Misconduct in office” means an unlawful act committed willfully by an elected public official or a willful violation of the code of ethics for government service contained in Code Section 45-10-1.

These are just a sample of the criteria and actions necessary to proceed with a recall effort in Georgia. The full Code is available by searching Georgia Code Title 21 online.

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