Signatures under review in recall attempt of Flint City Councilwoman Eva Worthing

Flint, MI — Signatures are in review for a recall petition filed against Flint City Councilwoman Eva Worthing.

Genesee County Clerk Domonique Clemons confirmed that 693 signatures were submitted to his office on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023.

He said the recall petition would move to a ballot measure should 510 of the submitted signatures be deemed valid through the review process, which has already begun.

“Our preliminary check is to simply make sure that every piece of required information for each signature is there,” Clemons explained of the county clerk’s review duties, which include checking for a printed name, signed name, address and date for each signer.

Clemons noted that his office also checks that signatures were received within the last 60 days before submission and that each page of signatures is signed by the petition’s signature gatherer, or circulator, at the bottom.

“If a circulator doesn’t sign a sheet, that entire sheet is no longer eligible,” he said.

Following his office’s preliminary check, Clemons said his staff turned over 664 signatures for further validation by the Flint City Clerk’s office.

The city clerk’s office will check to make sure signers are registered to vote in Flint’s ninth ward, which Worthing represents, and that each signature matches what is in the signer’s voter file.

Flint City Clerk Davina Donahue confirmed that her office received the petition sheets from the county clerk on Thursday, Nov. 16.

“We are hoping to have them reviewed and returned by next Tuesday; Wednesday, at the latest,” she wrote in an email to Flint Beat.

Once the signatures are returned, Clemons’ office will double check to ensure no signatures were mistakenly invalidated and then announce whether enough signatures were gathered to move Worthing’s recall to a special election ballot.

Clemons said that should the recall move to a ballot measure, that special election would be called for May of 2024.

The recall petition filed against Worthing notes her absence from a special city council meeting on May 20, 2023. It resembles language also filed against now-Flint City Council President Ladel Lewis, which failed last month after a review of submitted petition signatures came up 63 short.

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated to reflect that petition signatures were originally submitted to the Genesee County Clerk’s on Monday, Nov. 13.