(NaturalNews) On Friday, the Austin city clerk tossed a petition to recall District 5 Councilwoman Ann Kitchen on a technicality, arguing that each of the document's 989 pages did not include a notarized affidavit. The petition met two of the three requirements: 10 percent of eligible voters in Kitchen's district signed the petition (it actually exceeded this requirement), and the document accurately informed voters of its intention.

But instead of acknowledging the citizen's massive endeavor to oust a council member they feel neglected her duties of public servitude, the city clerk refused to allow grassroots group Austin4All to correct its mistake, and is holding the petition hostage, according to Justin Arman, Executive Director of Texans for Accountable Government, a trans-partisan PAC that assisted in the recall effort.

"This isn't a matter of formality, they are effectively slamming the door on 5,000 voters in District 5 - this is what democracy looks like to autocrats," said Arman in a written statement.

The clerk's rejection of the petition appears to be unprecedented. It's unclear whether the city has previously thrown out petitions based on a similar technicality, or if they worked with groups in the past to reach a solution; if the latter is true, the city has a responsibility to help Austin4All reach the requirements.
 

'Just because it's a rule, doesn't make it right'

"People are saying that rules are rules; however, I find that if the city wanted to be reasonable, they could simply return the petition and let them cure this problem by calling back all the petition gatherers and getting their signatures notarized properly," said Arman.

Also obscured is what recourse, if any, Austinites have. The Austin Statesman reported that they would have to start over completely, a seemingly implausible suggestion considering the thousands of volunteer hours and tens of thousands of dollars spent on the initiative.

"We're in uncharted territory here, so it's hard to predict what's going to happen," said Arman. "I don't know how they'll handle this for the very reason that Ann Kitchen may lose her job if this actually goes to public vote."