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An organization attempting to recall Supervisor Ignacio Velazquez has already turned in more than 2,200 signatures. If roughly four out of five signatures are valid, it would be enough to trigger a recall election.
Meanwhile, supporters of a concurrent effort to recall Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki say they are not submitting signatures on the Sept. 29 deadline.
Stacie Mcgrady, co-chair of Safer San Benito, told BenitoLink the organization shifted its focus to Velazquez alone in early August.
Since the group consists of 45 to 60 community members, McGrady said Kosmicki’s District 2, which includes San Juan Bautista, Aromas and parts of Hollister near Union Road and Hwy 25, was simply too large to manage with their resources.
Velazquez’s District 5, by contrast, covers a smaller area stretching across north county between Hwys 25 and 156, including downtown Hollister and the municipal airport.
Still, McGrady emphasized that Safer San Benito has not abandoned the idea of recalling Kosmicki. She said that will take more time, and “some reorganization.”
In total, the group gathered 2,256 signatures to oust Velazquez and submitted them on Sept. 22. To force a recall election, 1,833 of the signatures have to be valid. Velazquez has said that the effort to recall him is a “sham” and a “scam,” driven by people who want more housing and faster growth.
To Velazquez’s claims about the effort, McGrady said the supervisor “continues to deflect from the truth.”
“The recall is about failed leadership, ignoring the public, backroom deals and fiscal mismanagement, and especially his refusal to put public safety first,” she said.
During the campaign, an incident occurred in which a signature gatherer accused Velazquez of harassing her at the U.S. Post Office on Maple Street in Hollister. BenitoLink requested the incident report from the police against the supervisor, and received a heavily redacted document with no details about what allegedly occurred.
The county’s Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters has until Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. to verify the signatures. If enough are valid, as stated by the county’s response to the submission of signatures, the county Elections Department will notify the Board of Supervisors, which then has 14 days to schedule the recall election between 88 and 125 days later. If the board doesn’t do it, the county elections office will set the date within five days.
The cost of a recall election could range from under $20,000 to $85,000, depending on when it is scheduled, according to Registrar of Voters Francisco Diaz. If the recall coincides with the June 2026 primary election, the cost would be less than $20,000. If it’s a special election, the cost would range between $75,000 and $85,000. But this recall would be unlikely to require a special election because, according to Diaz, Safer San Benito submitted the signatures in time to be scheduled as a consolidated election.
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