Penny Soiseth and Curt Sullivan recall, Williams County Public Schools No. 8, North Dakota (2020)
| Williams County Public School District No. 8 recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Curt Sullivan |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| February 25, 2020 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2020 Recalls in North Dakota North Dakota recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An election to recall two Williams County Public School District No. 8 school board members in North Dakota was held on February 25, 2020.[1] It was approved by voters, and board president Penny Soiseth and vice president Curt Sullivan were removed from office. Chris Jundt and Sarah Williams won the seats in the same recall election.[2]
The effort began on November 4, 2019, when Jundt submitted the recall petition. Petitioners handed in 45 signatures of the needed 24 to get the recall election on the ballot.[3]
Another effort in the district began in June 2020 against Myles Fisher. Click here to read more about that recall effort.
Recall vote
General election
General election for Williams County Public Schools Board of Education (2 seats)
Chris Jundt and Sarah Williams defeated incumbent Curt Sullivan, incumbent Penny Soiseth, and Selena Gustaveson in the general election for Williams County Public Schools Board of Education on February 25, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Chris Jundt (Nonpartisan) | 28.0 | 441 | |
| ✔ | Sarah Williams (Nonpartisan) | 25.5 | 401 | |
| Curt Sullivan (Nonpartisan) | 19.8 | 312 | ||
| Penny Soiseth (Nonpartisan) | 19.7 | 311 | ||
| Selena Gustaveson (Nonpartisan) | 6.9 | 109 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 1,575 | ||||
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Recall supporters
Candidates Jundt and Williams supported dissolving the district and said they were frustrated with the lack of board transparency as well as a plan to secure $12 million to expand Williston High School.[4]
| “ |
You’ve seen them in critical points in time, some of the most important votes that have probably ever happened in District 8’s history, and that they sat there when a motion was put on the table to accept public comment from a packed boardroom. I don’t think they’ve probably ever seen that many people in their boardroom, and they chose not to listen to them.[5] |
” |
| —Chris Jundt[4] | ||
| “ |
After a few meetings, I just realized there’s just nobody who’s gonna be more passionate for my two freshman than I would be, so that’s what got me involved.[5] |
” |
| —Sarah Williams[4] | ||
Recall opponents
The school district school board noted 2019 was a difficult year. Soiseth said she did not agree with Jundt.[4]
| “ |
We have listened to them. We’ve had five town hall meetings where people could come in and they could say what they wanted to say. They did have the ability to reach out to us, and I had very few people reach out to me. Transparency, anything that the board has talked about, I have portrayed. If there was a vote, and people wanted to know what we were doing before the board makes a decision, I don’t know what to say to that[5] |
” |
| —Penny Soiseth[4] | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in North Dakota
Petitioners handed in 45 signatures of the needed 24 to get the recall election on the ballot. The amount of valid signatures required for the recall election was 25 percent of the number of persons that voted in the last preceding election for the office of governor in the electoral district of the officer sought to be recalled. The filing deadline was December 23, 2019.[3]
2019 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 20 school board recall efforts against 47 board members in 2019. Three recall elections were held in 2019. The school board recall success rate was 6.4%.
The chart below details the status of 2019 recall efforts by individual school board member.
2020 recall efforts
- See also: School board recalls
Ballotpedia tracked 29 school board recall efforts against 64 board members in 2020. Four recall elections were held in 2020. The school board recall success rate was 7.8%.
The chart below details the status of 2020 recall efforts by individual school board member.
See also
- Recall campaigns in North Dakota
- Political recall efforts, 2019
- Political recall efforts, 2020
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Recall Elections Blog, "North Dakota: Two Williams School Board Members recalls set for February 25," November 26, 2019
- ↑ Williston Herald, "Jundt, Williams win seats on District 8 school board, bond narrowly fails," February 25, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Williston Herald, "District 8 sets bond election, recall election for same day," November 19, 2019
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 West Dakota Fox, "District 8 board president responds to recall election," November 27, 2019
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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