The Hamilton County Election Commission said Tuesday that the Community Control Petition was counted and recounted and fell short. The final count of names fell short on a petition to establish an ordinance that a group known as Community Control Now Coalition believed would reflect the will of the people. The ordinance that they had hoped to pass was regarding the community’s respect and trust in guiding the Chattanooga Police Department and how citizen complaints would be handled.
The proposed group would have had nine members with much stronger power than the current police advisory board. And they would have had subpoena power. There were 4,719 names needed on a petition to get the question on the March 3, 2021 ballot.
December 2-10
The group collected and turned in over 6,000 names by the submission deadline of December 2, 2020. That day, the Election Commission began checking the petitions. And by December 10, the initial check of names came up 200 signatures short. The next two days, the staff member at HCEC checked to ensure the correct process had been followed by the staff members who had reviewed the petitions. Preliminary counts were then provided to the HCEC and to the Community Control Group as a courtesy. In response, the HCEC was sent a request for a recount to be done by an independent agency with a member of their team present.
December 10 and 11
On December 11 the HCEC began an audit of the petition, as is done with any petition that comes up short. An audit was done to ensure the proper process was followed when recording of the reason for any signature that was rejected.
December 11-14
An audit was done to ensure that each valid signature was credited in the system. This audit was completed on December 14.
December 15-17
On December 15, HCEC staff began a fourth round of reviews of these petitions, including re-examining every page to make sure that the rejected signatures were truly invalid. This afforded review of every signature by another set of eyes.
The final review process was completed Thursday, December 17 which shows:
Approved Current Address: 4,421
Approved Same Precinct: 72
Rejected due to being outside the precinct or municipality: 933
Rejected because of invalid signatures: 97
Rejected because of invalid address: 93
Rejected due to duplicate signature: 48
Rejected because the name was not a registered voter: 425
Totals show:
4493 signatures were approved
1,596 signatures were rejected
4,719 total names were required to have the question on the ballot
The Hamilton County Election Commission is satisfied that the process and count was accurate. Signatures were counted twice and audited twice.
The community group that submitted the petition is entitled to open records law which shows the rejected signatures and reasons they were rejected.
Officials from the Community Control Now Coalition said, "While we have been made aware of the Hamilton County Election Commission's decision that the initiative to place community oversight on the City of Chattanooga March ballot appears to have fallen several hundred votes short of the required number, our coalition will enter a phase where we will verify and validate those names and signatures that were disqualified. We have called for full transparency throughout the course of this process, and will work to ensure that the integrity of this ballot initiative is upheld and protected. Finally, we thank and commend the thousands of citizens, who despite a time of COVID-19 anxiety, economic uncertainty, and social justice upheaval, have affirmed that community control is an issue that is worthy and significant enough to warrant placement on the ballot so that the citizens can give voice on how this community must address this vitally important issue."