No Recall Election to be Held as Fargo School Board Petitions Reveal Thousands of Invalid Signatures

(Fargo, ND) -- Fargo Public Schools Business Manager Jackie Gapp has completed the validation process of the petitions submitted to the District in an effort to recall Fargo Board of Education members Nikkie Gullickson, Seth Holden, Jim Johnson and Tracie Newman.  After review, she has determined the petitions do not include 4,144 valid signatures for each Board member necessary to call a special recall election.

On August 26th, the sponsoring committee submitted petitions to recall Fargo Board of Education Member Jim Johnson. On September 3rd, the sponsoring committee submitted petitions to recall Fargo Board of Education Members Nikkie Gullickson, Seth Holden, and Tracie Newman. The petitions were submitted on time and within the 90-day deadline. According to the Cass County finance director, the number of valid signatures required for the recall is 4,144.

The sponsoring committee submitted petitions for each Board member that included more than the necessary 4,144 signatures; however, many petition signatures were deemed invalid due to the following reasons:

  • Petition not circulated in its entirety
  • Inadequate signature
  • Out-of-district address
  • Address missing both city and ZIP code
  • No date
  • Notary errors
  • Circulator errors
  • Address omissions

Per state law, recall petitions must be circulated by and signed by qualified voters, in this case qualified voters of the Fargo Public School District. A portion of the City of Fargo proper is not included in the Fargo Public School District boundaries. A number of the petition signatures deemed invalid were from the area of Fargo that is assigned to West Fargo Public Schools. Citizens living in that area of Fargo vote in School Board elections for West Fargo Public Schools. Additionally, signatures deemed invalid were from citizens of other towns (Horace, Harwood, Bismarck, Moorhead, etc.).

Below is the total number of signatures submitted by the recall committee per Board member, along with the number of validated signatures for each.  Please see the attached summaries for additional information for each petition by Board member.

            BOARD MEMBER                       SIGNATURES SUBMITTED                      SIGNATURES VALIDATED

            Nikkie Gullickson                                  4,457                                                   3,081

            Seth Holden                                         4,451                                                   2,996

            Jim Johnson                                          4,514                                                   2,879

            Tracie Newman                                     4,472                                                   2,910

 

Due to the lack of valid signatures to trigger a recall election, a special election will not be held and this recall process has concluded. No official is subject to recall twice during the term for which the official was elected.  Therefore, Fargo Board of Education members Nikkie Gullickson, Seth Holden, Jim Johnson and Tracie Newman cannot be subject to another recall attempt in their current terms, which expire in 2024.