What happened to the recall efforts against Michigan lawmakers over new gun laws?

Protestors in support of gun safety legislation hold their signs up and chant to block the signs and chants of counter-protestors during a rally with former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords on March 15, 2023. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

They garnered headlines and partisan hoopla, but four recall petitions approved last year against Michigan lawmakers all expired without anything to show for the effort.

Most of the recalls were filed after Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed gun reforms following the Feb. 13, 2023, mass shooting at Michigan State University. Several recall efforts never even made it over the first procedural hurdle.

The first of the approved petitions was against state Rep. Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan). It was filed by Fairview Area Schools board member and former Republican Alcona County Commissioner Gary Wnuk, and cited Cavitt’s yes vote in January 2023 when the House elected Rep. Joe Tate (D-Detroit) as the new House speaker for the new legislative session under the new Democratic majority. 

The Michigan Board of State Canvassers (BSC) approved the recall on Aug. 1, 2023. The petition had a 180-day window to collect signatures, which expired in late January. 

A recall petition against Rep. Sharon MacDonell (D-Troy) was then approved by a 3-0 vote on Aug. 21, 2023, by the BSC. It was filed by Michael T. Ross, who cited MacDonell’s yes vote in support of red flag gun laws signed into law earlier that year. 

Once the Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal of the petition on October 11, 2023, the petition’s 180-day window to collect signatures expired in early April.

Similar recall petitions approved against Reps. Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield) and Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) also cited their votes in favor of the red flag laws. 

Arbit and Coffia also both appealed, both of which were rejected on Dec. 13, placing the 180-day expiration in early June for those petitions.

In all four cases, the Michigan Secretary of State’s office confirmed for Michigan Advance that no petitions were received.

MacDonnel told the Advance that the recall against her didn’t succeed because voters recognize that she is working for them. 

“I’ve championed the policies that my constituents care about, like commonsense gun reform and expanded protections for vulnerable adults. People can see that unless elected officials have done something wrong, trying to remove them with recalls is just blatantly cynical,” said MacDonnel.

To initiate a recall election, supporters of the various efforts were required to submit signatures of at least 25% of the votes cast in the appropriate state House district in the last governor’s race. Additionally, all of the signatures must have been gathered within a 60-day period prior to being turned in. 

Amid the four petitions the BSC did approve over the last year, were a bevy they rejected, including from a former Albion man who filed his sixth recall petition against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in January.

Chad E. Baase alleged Whitmer’s budgeting for state law enforcement was similar to “Slave Licensing, Black Codes, and Jim Crow Laws” that echoed “the behavior of slave traders against those of color.” Baase later told the Advance the effort was more focused on trying to get his driver’s license reinstated than it was about actually gathering signatures and following through with the petition process.

While most of Baase’s petitions have been rejected, of those that were approved, none have ever been turned in with signatures, including one seeking Whitmer’s recall that was approved by the BSC on June 8, 2020, but which later collapsed after approximately $2,000 in campaign funds went missing. 

As the Michigan Campaign Finance Network reported at the time, a volunteer with the campaign alleged Baase spent the money on a gambling addiction, while Baase claimed it had been stolen by a girlfriend whose last name he didn’t know.

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