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It has been 103 days since the Recall Dunleavy effort began collecting signatures across Alaska with the aim of ultimately chasing Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy from office largely for his audacious tear-off-the-Band-Aid approach to curbing Alaska’s budget woes.
Since that morning on Aug. 1, the group has gathered 49,000 signatures — a few, it turns out, from the media — and submitted its recall application certification to the Division of Elections. The certification is needed before the effort’s second phase, which entails gathering the 71,251 signatures needed to force a special election, can begin.
It will not come easily. The Division of Elections rejected the application after Attorney General Kevin Clarkson unsurprisingly declared it unsubstantiated for failing “to meet any of the listed grounds for recall — neglect of duty, incompetence, or lack of fitness.” The group has gone to court.