Sweeping changes to recall election laws would limit the time that citizens could attempt to remove someone from office and require that the recall be held at the same time as an election to replace the person targeted for removal. The proposed changes are in response to a flood of recall elections, especially ones aimed at local officials, like last months mayoral recall in Troy. “In a one and a half-year time frame, we knew of 165 township officials facing recall,” said Tom Frazier of the Michigan Townships Association. “And school districts suffer the same type of situations.”
… The bills are “common sense reform,” that will save communities money by cutting down on the number of recall elections, Forlini said.
But Democrats were wary of the timing of the bills, saying they could make it more difficult to recall elected officials. With the contentious Right to Work legislation still in the hopper for the lame duck session, state Rep. Barb Byrum, D-East Lansing, said she wanted to delay the implementation of the bills until 2015.
“Why are we pushing this reform package at this time when right to work might be on the agenda,” she said.
Full Article: Flood of recall elections leads to calls for sweeping changes | Politics/Election 2012 | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.