Wheeler Recall: If At First You Don't Succeed, Sue For More Time

PORTLAND, OR —The effort to recall Mayor Wheeler needed 48,000 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Having collected less than half that, organizers went to federal court to get more time.

Lawyers for the effort, Total Recall PDX, argued that the state imposed 90-day limit on collection is unconstitutional, "so brief, so unrealistic and so burdens the recall power that it is impermissibly infringes on peoples' right to recall their elected officials."

The suit, which names the city of Portland, City Auditor Mary Hull Caballero, and Louise Hansen, the city's director of elections, charges that the 90-window was even more unrealistic because of COVID-19 restrictions the heatwave over the summer.

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Total Recall PDX originally requested an extension based on those two points. When their request was denied, they filed suit.

The Oregonian was the first to report the suit.

Total Recall PDX's executive director is Alan Kessler who was the lawyer for the campaign of Sarah Iannarone who lost to Wheeler by 7 percentage points.

The paperwork to form the recall committee was formed just over a week after the election.