Elections officials in Maricopa County have so far verified as valid more than 8,000 signatures submitted by a group seeking to recall Senate President Russell Pearce.
This means it’s almost certain that a special election will take place – most likely this November – since the recall group, Citizens for a Better Arizona, only needs 7,756 valid signatures.
Karen Osborne, director of elections for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, said her office has so far gone through about 13,600 signatures and validated 8,239 of them as of today.
The verification process is not over. The county has to check all of the nearly 17,000 signatures that the Secretary of State’s Office turned over to the Recorder’s Office.
Osborne said her office will be done with the work by Aug. 1.
Once the county has certified that there are sufficient signatures for the recall and the secretary of state has officially filed the petition, the governor has 15 days to call for the special election.