In Oregon, Yamhill County Commissioner Lindsay Berschauer defeated the recall effort against her with 52.4% of the vote on March 22. Berschauer was first elected to the three-member board in 2020.
The recall effort began in Aug. 2021. Recall supporters failed to gather enough signatures during their first effort, but they launched a successful second petition effort in Nov. 2021. They submitted 7,675 signatures on Feb. 1, 2022, and the county verified enough signatures to put the recall on the ballot.
Recall supporters accused Berschauer of “extremism, fiscal mismanagement, and bad-faith representation” in the second recall petition.
In response, Berschauer stated, “Disagreement over public policy does not warrant a recall in the minds of voters, as we just witnessed in Newberg with the failed recall attempts on school board members.”
There have been 15 recall efforts against 33 county commissioners in 2022. Of those, 10 are underway, 18 did not go to a vote, one resulted in a resignation, one was approved, one was defeated, and two are on the ballot in May 2022.
There have already been more recall efforts against county commissioners in 2022 than in the first half of 2021. Between January and June of 2021, 12 county commissioners were targets of recall efforts. As of March 24, 2022, 15 county commissioners have been the targets of recall efforts.
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