Grant Public School District recall, Michigan (2023-2024)

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Grant Public School District recall
Officeholders
Rachal Gort Ken Thorne Richard Vance Sabrina Veltkamp-Blok
Recall status
2 Recall defeated; 2 Did not go to a vote
Recall election date
May 7, 2024
Signature requirement
1,091 signatures
See also
Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2024 Recalls in Michigan Michigan recall laws School board recalls Recall reports

Recall elections against two of the seven members of the Grant Public School District Board of Education in Michigan were held on May 7, 2024. Rachal Gort and Richard Vance were on the ballot. Gort defeated Mindy Conley to stay in office, and Vance defeated Lindsay Mahlich to stay in office.

Ken Thorne and Sabrina Veltkamp-Blok were also named in recall petitions, but those efforts did not go to a vote.

The effort started after the board voted in June 2023 to issue a 90-day termination letter to Family Health Care, which had been operating a health clinic in the district's middle school since 2010. Due to the termination letter, the clinic's contract with the district was scheduled to end on October 6, 2023. All four members included in the recall effort voted in favor of the termination.

On September 11, 2023, the board unanimously voted to approve a new contract with Family Health Care, keeping the clinic open. The contract included the stipulation that a mural painted by students that featured LGBTQ+ imagery be removed by the end of October 2023. Under the contract, the superintendent and school board president had to approve any future decorations in the clinic.

Recall vote

General election

Special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large

Incumbent Rachal Gort defeated Mindy Conley in the special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on May 7, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Rachal Gort (Nonpartisan)	53.6	924
	Submit photo	Mindy Conley (Nonpartisan)	45.9	791
		Other/Write-in votes	0.5	8

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,723
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

General election

Special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large

Incumbent Richard Vance defeated Lindsay Mahlich in the special general election for Grant Public School District, At-large on May 7, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Richard Vance (Nonpartisan)	52.3	902
	Submit photo	Lindsay Mahlich (Nonpartisan)	47.4	817
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	5

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,724
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Recall supporters

The recall petitions listed the board's vote to terminate the partnership with Family Health Care as the reason for the recall. Joshua Stein, who filed the recall petitions, said the board's vote broke the community's confidence in the school board.

Recall opponents

At the clarity hearing, Thorne said the board was working to negotiate a new contract with Family Health Care. "So we do not have the intent to terminate that partnership at all," Thorne said.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Michigan

To get a recall on the ballot in Michigan, recall supporters must collect signatures equal in number to 25% of voters in the jurisdiction in the last gubernatorial election. They have 60 days between the collection of the first signature and the collection of the last signature on the petition. Recall petitions are eligible to collect signatures for 180 days.

Petition signatures against Gort and Vance were submitted and verified, and the recall elections were scheduled for May 7, 2024. To get the recalls on the ballot, supporters had to collect 1,091 signatures.

2024 recall efforts

See also: School board recalls

Ballotpedia tracked 40 school board recall efforts against 83 board members in 2024. Recall elections in 2024 removed 14 members from office, including three who resigned before the election, and retained seven members in office. The school board recall success rate was 13.4%.

The chart below details the status of 2024 recall efforts by individual school board member.

Recall context

See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report

Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.

The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.