I'm glad to see someone addressing the lack of a recall law in Alabama and I've often wondered why the citizenry doesn't push for one given the quality of some of our elected officials. Of course most of the elected officials, for obvious reasons, have no desire to pass a recall law and they argue that the electoral process every four years is, in essence, a recall opportunity. This seems to me to be a particularly specious argument. Here are some snippets from Ehingers article:
Because the change is so fundamental to the way government and politics function in Alabama, it would require a constitutional amendment. That means to get the power of recall, state voters would have to approve it in a referendum.
According to the proposal by state Rep. Allen Treadaway, a Republican from Morris, voters unhappy with an elected official would have to gather signatures equal to 30 percent of those who voted in the last election in the relevant jurisdiction. First, notification would have to be filed with the secretary of state or a probate judge (depending on the office of the person at issue), and the petitions with sufficient valid names would have to be completed within 160 days. The recall election would be set 60 to 80 days later.
[snip]
Actually, even the mere threat of recall might persuade some officials to conduct themselves honorably and responsibly and to do what they say they're going to do. Appropriate behavior from those in office is preferable to continually throwing out one official and replacing him or her with another.
(added emphasis is mine)
This is a constitutional amendment I could get behind and I hope that it gains some traction! I'll be letting my elected officials know how I feel about this and I hope that you will also!
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