'Unite Norman' succeeds in getting councilmember recall certified

RECALL CERTIFIED! Unite Norman’s Recall Effort Certified for Council Member Petrone

Mayor’s Recall Certification Will Not Be Announced Till Tomorrow — and Unite Norman Cautions about Legal Precedence Below;

ALSO: Grassroots Groups Cautions against Council Member Bierman’s Planned Doxxing of List of Petition Signers in the Mayoral Recall effort, Citing Intimidation and Harassment

NORMAN — Unite Norman responded to the City Clerk’s announcement today that the signature-gathering effort to recall Council Member Petrone is certified and will now head to the ballot box.

The announcement comes after the grassroots organization turned in more than 20,000 signatures to recall Mayor Clark, and thousands of signatures to recall Council Member Petrone, and after forcing the resignation already of Council Member Wilson in Ward 5.


The final figure on the recall of Mayor Clark is not yet finalized, but is expected to be announced tomorrow.

“THIS IS FAR FROM OVER”

The city’s press release cites that In the mayor’s recall effort, some signatures may not match the registered voters’ registered addresses; HOWEVER, LEGAL PRECEDENT IN OKLAHOMA STRONGLY SHOWS that – if challenged — those signatures will likely count, if those citizens reside in Norman, regardless of any prior address used on their voter registration form. (Reason: Many voters simply fail to update their addresses, and legal precedence shows that the favor will go to the voter.)

Unite Norman will be exploring all legal avenues available to ensure that every voice is heard. 

Now that the recall effort against Council Member Petrone are certified, the group cautions that the mayor’s and city council’s supporters — including City Council Member Kate Bierman — have publicly stated they will request copies of the petition signature pages and expose private citizens’ names and home addresses on a publicly-available, “searchable” website.

“This potential doxxing of private citizens is nothing more than retribution and retaliation against citizens for simply exercising their right to petition their government,” said Russell Smith, co-founder of Unite Norman. “This sort of nasty doxxing should have no place in the public discourse in Norman.”

“Doxxing is a dangerous practice that could lead to stalking, harassment, intimidation, and worse,” said Sassan Moghadam, co-founder of Unite Norman. “The mayor and city council should immediately come out and condemn these threats of exposing Norman citizens who simply exercised their right to petition to the government.”

“No matter the outcome tomorrow, we are extremely proud of our efforts,” said Moghadam. “One thing is clear: the voter turnout in the next election will be remarkably strong, regardless of which recalls are certified. The citizens are now awake.”