Recall election certified, swearing in of replacements is Monday

TIVERTON — The recall election that cost Robert Coulter and Justin Katz their seats on the Town Council was officially certified by the town’s Board of Canvassers Thursday; their replacements — Stephen Clarke and John Edwards IV — will be sworn into office at the start of Monday night’s special Town Council meeting.

The next two highest vote-getters in last November’s election were Clarke, who came in 8th place with 2,003 votes, and Edwards IV, who came in 9th place with 1,949 votes. Edwards IV is a former vice president of the council, and Clarke is a former member of the Charter Review Commission. Town Clerk Nancy Mello said both men have agreed to serve out the terms that expire in November, 2020.

The canvassers had to wait a week after the recall election – the first successful one in the town’s history - to certify in case there was an appeal. No appeal was lodged with the state Board of Elections by the Thursday 4 p.m. deadline, Mello said, and then double-checked her e-mail at 6 p.m. to make sure there was no correspondence from state elections officials before the canvassers’ certification vote.

The final tally for the Coulter recall, including a handful of provisional ballots that were the last to be counted by hand, was 1,601 in favor and 75 against; and for Katz was 1,596 in favor and 80 against.

Coulter and Katz, who held the positions of president and vice president of the council, respectively, were members of the Tiverton Taxpayers Association that had a majority on the council. They and their supporters urged townspeople not to turn out to vote in the recall.

According to Town Charter, a minimum number of voters equal to 40% of the votes the men received in the last election had to turn out to cast ballots, with the majority yes or no deciding their fate. For Coulter, 808 votes had to be cast, and for Katz the minimum was 940.

“Telling people not to vote may be a good tactic to get people to vote,” Andrea Souza, an alternate on the Board of Canvassers, said during Thursday’s certification meeting.

“The response was good given how bad the weather was,” Canvassers member DeEtta Moran said of the 12.7% voter turnout on a rainy fall day.

The town has 13,167 registered voters. There were 1,681 ballots cast in the recall.

Residents, including council candidate William McLaughlin, who started the recall process in the spring, said the two did not follow the will of the people in many instances, particularly in appointing a town solicitor who had a past association with Katz, and putting their staunch supporter, Richard Rom, on the Library Board of Trustees over another who had more experience.

Townspeople also were upset that the council majority pushed for the town to be designated a Second Amendment Sanctuary town and held a few long hearings on the matter before casting a majority of votes in favor.

Coulter and Katz called the recall “a re-do” of last November’s election. They said several times that recalls should be reserved for egregious acts and they were not guilty of any.

Coulter noted after the recall results were in last week that the council majority will now flip to the Democrats and Independents – Denise deMedeiros, Patricia Hilton, Joseph Perry and Edwards IV. TTA members Donna Cook and Nancy Driggs remain on the council.

Katz said last week that he has begun campaigning for November, 2020, and is putting together a slate of candidates for that ballot.

mpobzeznik@newportri.com