“Boots'” Recall Petition Fails

A recall petition launched by former UDP Port Loyola Area Representative Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez has failed. These petitions were intended to trigger a recall referendum aimed at removing sitting Area Representative Gilroy Usher Senior from office.

Port Loyola has 4,950 registered electors. This meant that Martinez would have needed to collect 1,485 signatures, or 30% of the total number of voters in the division.

Martinez submitted 1,654 signatures, or 33.4%, to the Governor General. However, the total number of signatures approved totaled 1,389, or 28.06%.

The total number of rejected signatures totaled 265, or 5.35%. According to the Governor General, 188 signatures did not match the Elections and Boundaries Department’s record of registered voters; 14 petitioners were not registered; 41 petitioners are not registered in the division; 1 petition did not have a signature; and 21 petitions were submitted more than once.

Martinez is also told that it is an offence for a person to forge the signature on a recall petition or to willfully sign the petition more than once.