The Santa Ana City Council deadlocked Tuesday night, Aug. 1, on setting an election date for the recall of Councilmember Jessie Lopez.
Enough signatures to force the recall vote were collected, so the council now has to set the date of the special election for voters to decide if Lopez should be removed from office and who should take her seat.
The council had the choice to set the election during Tuesday’s meeting or push the decision to its next meeting on Aug. 15. If the council fails to set a date, the decision goes to OC Registrar of Voters Bob Page, who would have five days to schedule the election.
Tuesday’s deadlock means the council will need to make a decision Aug. 15.
Lopez and Councilmember Thai Viet Phan are the focus of recall efforts led by the Santa Ana Police Officers Association. The two are accused of “defunding the police” and supporting “destructive policies that have encouraged landlords to raise rents,” according to the notice of intention to circulate a recall petition. The window for collecting signatures to force the recall vote against Phan closes Aug. 7.
The city received notice on Tuesday of a lawsuit that’s been filed asking the court to stop the recall vote against Lopez, alleging false or misleading information was presented to residents during the signature gathering process. It also asks the court to find that the recall petition contained false or misleading statements, invalidating the recall petition as a result.
City Attorney Sonia Carvalho requested that a discussion of the lawsuit be added to the closed session agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, but the council split and it wasn’t added.
Phan, along with councilmembers Jonathan Hernandez and Benjamin Vazquez wanted to push the item to the next council meeting. Lopez recused herself from the discussion.
Phan said the council needed to see what happens with the lawsuit.
Vazquez said he could not accept the recall certificate because it was “based on…
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