By: Joe Brizzolara
The City of Downey will pay $3,896 to verify signatures submitted by the campaign to recall District Three Councilmember Catherine Alvarez, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. If the recall makes it onto the ballot the city would also be on the hook for the cost of holding a special election, which could cost the city tens of thousands of dollars.
Signatures on the recall petition are verified by county officials against voters’ signatures on their registration record. Administrative costs incurred by the county to process signatures are then charged to Downey.
“Signature verification is based on a per signature cost which is $0.97 per signature,” said Michael Sanchez, a spokesman for the L.A. County clerk, in an email to Downey Latino News.
Recall organizers submitted 4,016 petition signatures on Jan. 4 to the Downey City Clerk’s Office who, after tallying the raw number of signatures, submitted them to the county clerk.
Recall organizers have argued that Alvarez is not fit to serve after concealing her criminal record from voters. She was convicted of two misdemeanor charges related to welfare fraud in 2014, along with a misdemeanor petty theft conviction in 2013.
They’ve also criticized her for attending an event last April at Apollo Park which did not comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Alvarez has shot back, calling the recall a dirty tactic orchestrated by Downey’s political machine intended to overturn the will of voters who elected her in 2020. Alvarez does not deny her past convictions, attributing them to the struggles of a working-class mother, and says that her debt to society has been paid.
She has also noted that the Apollo Park event was a religious ceremony which is exempt from strict adherence to CDC restrictions and that attendants were tested for COVID-19 beforehand.
The county has until Feb. 16 to present its signature count to Downey’s city clerk who will in turn report the number to the City Council. If the signature threshold is met—3,454 verified signatures, equal to 20% of registered voters in District Three—the City Council will have two weeks to call a special election in which District Three residents would vote on whether to remove Alvarez from office.
Downey has consolidated its elections with the county, meaning that if an election were to take place, L.A. County officials would be charged with its rollout and the city would reimburse them for the costs.
The county clerk’s office does not provide cost analysis for elections until they have been called but past elections have shown they come with a significant price tag.
L.A. County quoted the City of Hermosa Beach $100,000 for a standard special election in January 2021 to fill a vacant City Council seat. The number of registered voters used to calculate that cost was 15,303. As of last year’s gubernatorial recall election, the number of registered voters in District Three was 17,286.
Hermosa Beach opted to do an all-mail election, which staff estimated would reduce costs by 20% to 40%. The county cautioned that a variety of factors could result in unanticipated increases in election costs.
Downey’s budgeted general fund expenditures totaled around $93.8 million in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
If the recall is successful, Alvarez will be immediately removed from office and an additional election will be called to fill her seat. The Downey city charter prohibits recalled officials from running as their own replacement.
Alvarez has been a lightning rod since taking office, receiving flack for her support of progressive policies like a rent stabilization ordinance, increased hourly wage for service workers amid the pandemic, and a city-sponsored LGBTQ Pride picnic. Alvarez and recall opponents have branded the recall a right-wing power grab.
If recall proponents do not meet signature requirements then the recall attempt ends but they can start fresh on a new attempt if they wish.
