Less than a day after Milo Anderson was sworn in as L.A. Community College District student trustee, his former opponent Ryan Navarrete of L.A. Trade Technical College has collected signatures in an effort to recall him.
Anderson was elected student trustee in a special election in September and sworn in Wednesday at the Board of Trustees meeting at East L.A. Community College. The race had been contested by both parties several times, with Anderson being the most vocal critic of the election procedures.
At Anderson’s inauguration, however, Navarrete made a public comment announcing his intention to petition for a recall. LACCD board rule 21006 lists the protocol for recalling a student trustee.
“Petitions calling for the recall must be signed by 35 percent of the number of students voting in the previous Student Trustee election at all of the LACCD colleges,” according to the document.
In the last election, there were 879 valid votes counted. According the board rule, Navarrete would need 307 signatures for the board to agree to a recall election. That would be the third election between the two this year. Navarrete said he already has the number of signatures required, and will be taking them to the board soon.
“I’m going to try to get a few more,” Navarrete said. “I received signatures from Pierce, Mission, ELAC, LATTC, LACC and Harbor.”
Board rule 21006 is ambiguous in its wording, but appears to say that signatures must be collected from all nine LACCD campuses. Anderson said he is unphased by the news, and used the opportunity to highlight flaws in the rules’ wording.
“I’m not worried in the slightest,” Anderson said. “I’m actually grateful to him for it. He’s raising awareness about how badly the rules need to be fixed and he may even get more people interested in student representation in the process.”
It is not known when the recall election would be held if Navarrete’s motion is successful. This story will continue to be updated as details unfold.
