The group in Bishop that submitted a rejected application to begin the recall process for that city’s mayor and three member of its Council can restart the process at any time, according to a new interpretation of the state laws covering recalls.
Despite that option, Jacob Spaulding, who picked up the application forms and returned them to the Oconee County Office of Elections and Registration on March 3, said that he and his colleagues have decided to end their recall efforts.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration on March 4 turned down on procedural grounds the Application Petitions submitted by Spaulding directed at Mayor Drew Kurtz and Council Members Chuck Hadden, Deborah Lucas, and Hudson Holder.
The Board found that Greg Montgomery, designated as the Petition Chairperson on the four Recall Application Petitions, is not a registered voter in Bishop or in Oconee County and had not actually signed the petitions, as is required.
Sharon Gregg, Director of Elections and Registration for Oconee County, said at that March 4 meeting that a second application cannot be submitted for 180 days, essentially closing out the possibility of a recall before the terms of the mayor and Council members expire on Dec. 31.
After consultation with County Attorney Daniel Haygood, Gregg said her interpretation of the law had been incorrect, and Spaulding or anyone else can pick up recall applications and start the process again.
Spaulding said on March 14 that he had discussed this option with others in his group and that they had decided to focus instead on the November elections “and vote them out of office.”
Process And Background
Spaulding picked up the Recall Application forms from the county Board of Elections and Registration on Feb. 18 as the first step in a complex recall process.
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| Stone And Gregg, With Applications, 3/4/2025 |
The application required signatures of 10 percent of the registered voters in Bishop at the last election for Mayor and Council, or 19 voters. The Oconee County Election Board said this requirement had been met in each of the four cases.
Had the Board found that the petitions met all of the requirements of the law, the Board would have issued a petition for recall.
The circulators would have had 30 days to collect signatures of 30 percent of the 185 voters, or 56 signatures, on the recall petitions.
If those signatures were collected and verified, the county would have conducted a recall election for the city asking whether those named should be recalled, with the options only yes or no.
If the recall passed, the county would have held qualifying for the offices and then conducted a special election to fill the offices of those recalled.
Because the Board found that Montgomery is not a registered voter in Bishop or in Oconee County and had not actually signed the petitions and that the forms had not been assembled correctly when returned, the process ended at that point.
On March 11, Assistant Director of Elections and Registration Jennifer Stone, speaking for Gregg, told me in a telephone conversation that Gregg had learned that her advice to the Board that Spaulding could not submit a second application for recall for 180 days had been incorrect and that Spaulding had been informed of the error.
Reason For Recall
The Recall Application Petitions, circulated by Spaulding and Alexander Schmidt, said the mayor and three council members had violated the oath of office and “willfully misused, converted, or misappropriated without authority, public property or public funds.”
Spaulding said in a telephone conversation on March 14 that “all of those grounds still exist.”
“Some of the demands have been met,” he said, citing an agreement to hold quarterly Town Hall meetings.
The recall was not directed at Council Member Mindy Porterfield, who was the only member of the Council at its January meeting in favor of negotiating an extended lease with St. Aelred’s Catholic Church for the Bishop Community Center.
Spaulding said he bought his house in Bishop last year so his children could walk to St. Aelred’s.
When the Council would not renew the lease with the church, he said, he did a survey of people in Bishop and was told they were happy with St. Aelred’s and in favor of extending the lease, at least short term.
Spaulding said he then began to investigate other decisions made by the mayor and Council and identified the problems listed on the recall petition application.
The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration, which handles elections for Bishop under an Intergovernmental Agreement between the county and the city, will hold qualifications for the position of mayor and four council members of Bishop from Aug. 18 to 20.
Qualifying fee for each of the offices: $5.
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