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More than a year into his second term, a group of San Benito County residents filed on March 23 a second notice of intention to recall Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki. But on March 26, the county clerk-recorder and registrar of voters determined that the group had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for a petition. Of the 98 they collected, only 34 were valid. They needed at least 60.
According to the elections office, 40 of the signatures were invalid because signers did not provide a residential address.
Former planning commissioner Celeste Toledo-Bocanegra, who is part of the newest recall effort, said she wasn’t aware of the finding.
Kosmicki said the decision “proves” his longstanding claim that those pushing for the recall “don’t follow rules.”
Toledo-Bocanegra said the group is still unnamed and is made up of some of the same volunteers who circulated the first petition last summer. Last year, that other group gathered enough signatures to trigger a recall election for Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez, set for June 2. They eventually dropped their effort to recall Kosmicki, finding it too challenging to pursue both at once.
“Separating the two efforts has proven to be a very effective strategy,” she said.
The group’s notice of intention, filed at the county elections office, accuses Kosmicki of allowing traffic to worsen, wasting tax dollars, sinking the county into debt and conducting backroom deals away from public scrutiny during his tenure as board chair.
“He has violated the public trust, failed to do his job, and put our community at risk,” Toledo-Bocanegra said. “We cannot afford another five years of his disastrous leadership.”
Kosmicki rejected the claims, saying they were based on misinformation. He told BenitoLink the recall is being driven by the same faction behind the Velazquez recall and called it an abuse of the process.
“They’ve chosen several different narratives that are all blatantly false,” he said. “They’re trying to abuse the recall system once again to overturn the will of the voters.”
If a notice of intention to recall is approved, Kosmicki would have a week to file his response.
Then, recall proponents would need to file their formal petition, which is subject to approval by the elections office. If that is approved, the group can then begin collecting signatures, Chief Deputy Clerk-Recorder-Elections Ana de Castro Maquiz said.
The number of petition signatures required depends on how many people are registered to vote in the district at the time of filing. Kosmicki’s district spans from West Hollister to Aromas and includes San Juan Bautista.
Based on current registration, the group would need to gather 1,747 signatures in about three months, de Castro Maquiz said, but the number of required signatures could change by the time the group submits them. If enough signatures are valid, the Board of Supervisors, or if needed the registrar of voters, would have 14 days to schedule the recall election, which would be held between 88 and 125 days later.
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