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The views expressed are my own and do not represent the Board of Education or fellow Board members.
I want to thank the more than 20,000 registered voters who chose not to sign the recall petition. Thank you for seeing through the noise and continuing to trust us.
I also want to thank our county clerk and every local clerk who managed this process. It required significant time, effort, and taxpayer resources during an already busy primary election.
Considering the lengths some political activists went to collect signatures, the result is exactly what it should have been. We heard from community members who said they were told it was “just a poll,” were given misinformation or inaccurate reasons for signing, or felt pressured when approached at businesses or during family time. Regardless of anyone’s position on the recall, our community deserves honesty, and that is not what they received.
Petition circulators were expected to know Michigan law before asking people to sign. The sheer number of invalid petition sheets and signatures shows that many either failed to understand the legal requirements or chose not to follow them. Hundreds were rejected before any formal challenges due to unregistered voters, incorrect dates, illegible entries, mismatched signatures, or signatures collected in the wrong township or city. Michigan law requires the county clerk to reject petition sheets and signatures that do not meet those standards. Responsibility for these failures belongs with those who organized and circulated the petitions, not with those who later exposed the problems.
Now it’s time to move forward. The focus remains on strong governance, accountability, and creating the best possible opportunities for our children. As a community, let us not forget what matters most: the students.
Monica Dziesinski
Alpena