Ottawa Impact Commissioner Lucy Ebel to face special recall election in May

OTTAWA COUNTY — A special recall election targeting an Ottawa Impact-backed county commissioner is set for the May 2024 ballot.

On Monday, Nov. 27, the Ottawa County Clerk's Office announced that the special election will be added to the May ballot after a nearly 5-month-long process to recall Lucy Ebel.

The Committee to Recall Lucy Ebel announced on Nov. 14 it had 2,653 valid signatures — verified with current voter registration records — exceeding the 2,481 signatures required to put the matter on the spring ballot. Ebel challenged all of the signatures on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23, according to the county records.

The clerk's office had 35 days from when the signatures were submitted on Oct. 24 to validate the gathered signatures, allow Ebel to file specific challenges to any, and reconcile any discrepancies.

More: Ebel recall claims enough signatures to hit the ballot

More: 3,000 signatures turned in to recall Ottawa County Commissioner Lucy Ebel

On Monday, Nov. 27, the clerk's office announced that Ebel's challenges had been reviewed and that the petitioners now had 2,575 valid signatures — 78 fewer than after the initial vetting period, but still 94 over the minimum signature threshold to trigger a special recall election.

In a letter to Ebel that Roebuck posted to social media Monday evening, he outlined an exhaustive process his staff undertook over the five days remaining in the 35-day period to ensure accuracy and transparency.

"Our team has spent hundreds of hours during the initial review of the petition after it was submitted on Oct. 24 of this year. We spent a number of additional hours over the five-day period that has been allotted to us to review your challenges," Roebuck wrote to Ebel.

"Commissioner, I recognize that his has been a trying and difficult process for you and for your supporters. I hope that throughout this time you have felt the respect and fair treatment that you deserve from me and from my team," Roebuck wrote. "We truly take our oath of office seriously. Our highest priority is to uphold the laws and Constitution of the State of Michigan, and that is what we have sought to do throughout this entire process."

In the 16-page letter, Roebuck outlined all steps taken by him and his staff to address the 35 separate challenges Ebel raised in her Nov. 23 filing, including a "challenge to every name disqualified by Office of Clerk," "violations of Michigan campaign finance laws” (which do not affect signature validation) and alleging that nine petition circulators "engaged in deceit and misrepresentation" (which Roebuck said was outside of his purview).

Ebel also filed a challenge to “the validity of each signature on the petition drive because of significant indica of collection fraud," which Roebuck said was not a "reasonable request to broadly claim 'collection fraud' and assume that we would review every single signature again."

Ebel also filed a “challenge to Larry Jackson as a circulator,” saying the Park Township resident who filed the recall petition in July against her had a criminal past that should disqualify him. Roebuck told Ebel that "violations of the law, alleged violations of the law, or previous violations of the law by a petition circulator do not by law invalidate the legitimate signatures of voters who have signed a petition. This challenge is not sustained."

"We take each of these challenges seriously, as you are entitled to them by the law. We also take seriously the high bar of responsibility we have to our voters. Our team has been diligent and focused not upon the politics of this situation but solely upon upholding the law when it comes to the rights of the petitioner, the voters who’ve lawfully signed the petition, and the official whose recall is sought. Each of these parties deserves our utmost respect and deserves fair treatment under the law," he wrote.

Ebel is a member of Ottawa Impact, which currently has a six-member majority on the board. The far-right fundamentalist group was formed in 2021 over frustrations with the county and state over COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Since taking office, Ebel and other Ottawa Impact-linked commissioners have pushed through a series of controversial decisions, including firing the previous county administrator and former corporation counsel, attempting to demote the county health officer, eliminating the county's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office and making deep cuts to the health department's operating budget.

Those decisions have resulted in at least four ongoing lawsuits against the commission and a six-week investigation from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

The recall language for Ebel was submitted July 3, the first day commissioners were eligible for the procedure. The Ottawa County Election Commission ruled July 17 the wording for the recall petition was "factual and of sufficient clarity" to be certified for the ballot.

Ebel appealed that decision July 26, but a circuit court judge rejected her argument on Aug. 26, allowing the 60-day signature-gathering process to start.

The recall effort had to submit a minimum of 2,480 signatures, 25 percent of the number of voters who cast a ballot in the most recent gubernatorial race in Ebel's district. On Oct. 24, more than 3,000 signatures were submitted — 2,653 were verified as valid by the clerk's office.

The special election will appear on the May 7 ballot in the second district, which includes parts of Park Township and Holland Township.

Ebel has never responded to The Sentinel's requests for comment.

Two other recall efforts are ongoing against Ottawa County commissioners.

Duplicate petitions were filed Sept. 1 against District 10 Commissioner Roger Bergman, a moderate Republican, and District 3 Commissioner Doug Zylstra, the board's lone Democrat.

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Bergman and Zylstra both appeared at a Sept. 12 clarity hearing before the county's election commission, which ruled the language was sufficient to move forward. Zylstra appealed that decision Sept. 20, which prevented the signature-gathering process from starting until a circuit court hearing or 40 days passed, whichever was sooner, according to state election law.

But a hearing was never scheduled, so the signature process was allowed to proceed as of Oct. 30. It wasn't known as of publication time how the signature-gathering effort is proceeding.

If either process is successful, those recall elections would also take place May 7.

— Sarah Leach is executive editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa Impact Commissioner Lucy Ebel to face recall election in May