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Freeport council votes 3-2 not to certify recall petition against Mayor Jerry Cain
Summary
After hours of public comment and legal debate, the Freeport City Council voted 2-3 against certifying a recall petition that staff had verified met the city charter's numeric threshold; the outcome leaves potential court or county-judge intervention as the next step.
The Freeport City Council on Wednesday considered whether to certify a recall petition seeking removal of Mayor Jerry Cain and voted 2-3 against certification after extended public comment and competing legal views.
City staff presented an administrative review showing 295 signatures submitted, 231 verified as valid and 64 invalid; the Freeport Home Rule Charter requires 51% of votes in the last regular general election (222 valid signatures in this case) for a mayoral recall petition to qualify. City Manager Dr. Danielle Kelly said staff verified signatures line-by-line against Brazoria County voter records and used security measures, including video, to preserve chain of custody: "It was a painstaking effort. I spent at least nine hours... going through the signatures," she said.
The debate centered not on the raw…
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