Michigan, I love your spirit, I really do. So this article is NOT a criticism of the recall effort that was put together as a well-meaning response to the lunacy and overreach of the 49th Governor of the Great Lakes State, Gretchen Whitmer.

A number of people were involved in putting together the language to put on recall petitions that would then be signed by registered Michigan voters to put the question of a recall on the ballot. Here is what happened at the end of last month.

From M-LIVE…

The Board of State Canvassers was correct to approve multiple petitions seeking to recall Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for circulation, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.

The court affirmed the board’s approval of seven petitions, six seeking to recall Whitmer and one seeking to recall Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II. One additional recall petition was remanded to correct a “scrivener’s error” in stating the date on which an order was issued.

The Whitmer campaign plans to appeal the decision, according to campaign spokesperson Mark Fisk.

“We plan to appeal this disappointing decision and we fully intend to beat back these irresponsible partisan attacks against the Governor in the courts, on the streets or at the ballot. This is part of a massive and coordinated attack by Republicans trying to make the Governor fail and our campaign will strenuously oppose these efforts so the Governor can keep saving lives, reopening our economy and creating jobs,” Fisk said.

The court’s decision doesn’t mean all the petitions will circulate or get closer to being put on the ballot.

Even though the Whitmer campaign will appeal this, it does not matter and they are just wasting their money which they are more than welcome to do. They should just spend it on private jet trips which would be at least worth the money spent.

Why?

This recall effort is Dead on Arrival for a very simple reason. They simply ran out of time.

Michigan law that was changed in 2012 made it easier to get the language approved for a recall petition but harder to gather the signatures. Here are the rules…

Recall language has to be clear and factual which is relatively simple. You just have to state something obvious and make sure the spelling is correct. I have first-hand experience with this being I have helped with a recall effort here in my hometown that was approved and gathered over 1,700 signatures when we only needed 1,200. So here is an example of how simple this is.

Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order 2345-2021 on March 20th, 2021. That is clear and factual and the law of the state of Michigan demands that it be approved. The trick is getting the signatures needed.

Currently, the number of signatures needed is based on 25% of the total of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election. Once again, in the case of the town I live in, we needed just over 1,200 but had a dedicated group of people collect 500 more than needed to make sure we met the threshold.

For the whole state of Michigan, there were over 4 million total votes in the last Governor’s race in 2018 and any petition would need around 1,350,000 to play it safe. Signatures can be challenged and disqualified so making sure you have more than enough and not just shooting for the bare minimum is critical. You also only have 60 days after you collect the first signature to gather those 1 million-plus signatures and turn them in to be validated.

Plus the 2012 law also forbids an elected official to be recalled in the first and last year of their terms and only during a pre-scheduled election on the state’s calendar.

Essentially, anyone that would start a recall signature drive now would face multiple hurdles of organizing a statewide effort to gather all those signatures, turning them in for certification, and dealing with the legal challenges that Whitmer and her campaign will use. There is just not enough time to get this on the ballot for this year and you can’t do it for next year, being it will be her 4th year in office.

However, there is a General Election in 2022 for her seat and there is MORE than enough time to start preparing for that.

So, as well-meaning as this recall effort was, chalk it up to a learning curve. If this is needed to be done for any other elected officials going forward you have some badly needed experience now which is invaluable with these things.

Start getting involved NOW to make sure that your preferred candidate will lead the Michigan GOP against Whitmer in 2022. That is the only sure-fire way she can be sent to the sidelines for good and all the moronic rules this state has had to suffer under for the past 15 months are rolled back.

I know my fellow Michiganians can do this.