State Rep. Cam Cavitt, R-Cheboygan, Northeast Michigan’s state rep, faces a recall petition over his yes vote to elect state Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, as speaker of the state House.

Gary Wnuk, a former Republican Alcona County commissioner and member of the Fairview Area Schools Board of Education, filed the recall petition last week in Alcona County.

We think that vote is a poor reason to recall Cavitt, a freshman lawmaker.

The majority party — now the Democrats, who control both chambers of the Legislature for the first time in decades — gets to have the speaker, who controls the agenda of the chamber. So the speaker would be a Democrat.

The Democrats nominated Tate, and they had the votes to make him speaker.

So the vote was a foregone conclusion, and, if Cavitt voted no, it wouldn’t have made any difference.

Cavitt believes his yes vote on what was essentially a ceremonial ballot earned him a spot on the powerful state House Appropriations Committee, which leads the budget-making process, and it is through the budget that the state implements his policy.

We’re glad that Northeast Michigan has a strong voice in that process.

We support the right of Michiganders to initiate recall petitions if they believe their elected leaders aren’t serving their interests.

But we believe Cavitt made the right call in this case and do not support the effort to recall him over a ceremonial vote that nonetheless amplified his voice in the Legislature.