Effort To Recall Tucson Mayor Fails To Collect Enough Signatures

TUCSON, AZ — A months-long effort to recall Tucson Mayor Regina Romero has failed after the group fell 500 signatures short of the number required.

The Recall Regina 2020 Committee, which began its effort in October, needed at least 24,710 signatures by Feb. 27 to proceed to the verification phase of the petition process. The committee only submitted 24,153, according to one of its organizers.

Initiated by residents Joseph Morgan, Dawn Polotto and Alexander McKenna, the petition was a result of what they called “Romero’s failure to fulfill her duties as the Mayor of Tucson.”

Morgan, who was present at the U.S. Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, led a small group of protesters in June outside Romero's house after she signed a proclamation instituting a citywide mask mandate to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The Pima County Board of Supervisors later issued a mask mandate as well.

The group also disagreed with Romero's decision to remove police officers from election polling sites and her approval of a "Black Lives Matter" banner at city hall.

Romero, a Democrat, was elected to the office in November 2019 and her term ends in 2023. She previously served on the Tucson City Council for 12 years. She is the city's first Latina mayor.

A spokesperson for the mayor did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

In reaction to the petition failure, Morgan lamented the outcome but assured supporters he was far from done.

“We may have come up short of this goal, but our voice was heard and will continue to be heard," he wrote. "We have only just begun.”