Humboldt County Sheriff Violates State Law by Handling Recall Petition

Humboldt County Sheriff Allen is facing a recall election for failing to oppose red-flag laws. I've opined on it in other posts. A recall may not be successful, but to abuse Voltaire, sometimes threatening to shoot the admiral is as good as following through.

Allen broke state law when the county clerk allowed him to read the actual petition before it was filed. It must be filed before anyone but the clerk can handle it. Here's the story from the Nevada Independent:

A committee to recall the Humboldt County sheriff and remove him from office says it submitted more than the required number of signatures on Friday to qualify the call for a special election, but organizers are reeling after learning that county officials violated election rules by allowing the target of the recall to thumb through the petition before submitting the signatures to the secretary of state.
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Humboldt County Clerk Tami Spero said on Tuesday that, upon his request, she allowed Sheriff Mike Allen, the target of the recall, to flip through the pages of the petition while a deputy, who had full view of the sheriff and the document, observed him. She added that Allen is “allowed to view the petition because it is a public record.” 

But in an interview with The Nevada Independent on Tuesday, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Wayne Thorley cited a state law that says a recall petition “must not be handled by any other person except by an employee of the county clerk’s office until it is filed with the Secretary of State.” However, Thorley said that the intent of the law was upheld.

“The whole spirit of the law is just that the county clerk retains possession and control of it, so it’s not altered or taken from her possession,” Thorley said on Tuesday. “Because the intent of the law was not violated, no action will be taken by the Secretary of State.”

Bearing Arms sums it up nicely: ​

Yet that standard isn’t required for other violations of the law. If I go a little over the speed limit and get a ticket, I’m not going to get a pass because I didn’t mean to speed, now am I?
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What happened here is, in my opinion, a case of small county political shenanigans. Allen was able to handle the petition. Spero claims she watched the whole time, but we really only have her word on that. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where she just trusts the sheriff to play nicely and, well, he doesn’t.

Small towns suck because of stuff like this. There is major league bullshit in big cities too, but the culture is a little more professional and the rules are respected more. In small towns, people get away with stuff because people who see each other every day are afraid to make waves. 

The recall effort will proceed against Sheriff Allen.