A Bright Light for Democracy
For those of you who are worried about the state of our democracy (and rightly so), democracy is alive and well and on full display in Cleveland Heights.
- The residents were paying attention to their city's government and became concerned about the actions of the elected mayor.
- The concerned residents came together and developed a petition to recall the Mayor from office, following the rules of the city's charter and the local and state laws regarding ballot initiatives.
- They went out and collected signatures on the petitions - many more signatures than were required, and in a remarkably short period of time.
- The free press reported on the activities of the mayor and also on the recall petition, helping to inform more residents about what was happening.
- The petition signatures were submitted and approved by the Board of Elections in time for the issue to appear on the primary ballot.
- Also on the primary ballot are FIVE! qualified candidates to be the next Mayor of Cleveland Heights.
- The current mayor was unable to secure enough signatures to also be a candidate per the laws of Ohio and so he is not a candidate.
- We held a candidate forum for which all five candidates were present, and prepared.
- Not only were all five candidates present, but HUNDREDS of residents were present, or watching the live stream, and more than 1000 have watched the recording.
- The primary will be held in 3 weeks. It will, I'm confident, be a fairly run election and we will know soon enough afterward which two candidates will be on the November ballot, and the outcome of the recall petition. And if anyone questions the data, the Board of Elections will be able to confirm the accuracy of the data, with an audit if deemed necessary.
THIS is what Democracy looks like! |