RECALL PROPONENT SUES TOWN FOR RESCINDED NAMES, DEADLINE TODAY

A judge on Monday ordered the Town of Yucca Valley to tell the recall proponents how many voters changed their minds about signing the petitions to recall Council Members Robert Lombardo and George Huntington. Recall proponent Ron Cohen sued the Town last Thursday to get the information, and in a hearing Monday morning, Judge Bryan Foster ordered the Town to release the number of voters who have requested that their names be removed from the petitions, but not their names. Yucca Valley Town Clerk Lesley Copeland said that as of 10 a.m. Monday, the number of rescinded names was 21. Copeland added that the Town was following election code in not releasing the rescinded voters’ names to the recall proponents, and she said the judge agreed with the Town’s decision. The judge ordered the Town to turn over the number of names, and Judge Foster also denied the recall proponents’ request for reimbursement of its legal and filing fees. The deadline to turn in the recall petitions is today. State law requires that at least 25 percent of the Town’s registered voters sign the petitions in order to put the recall of the Council Members on a special election ballot.