MORROW COUNTY — An Irrigon resident submitted recall petitions Thursday for all three Morrow County commissioners, David Sykes, Jeff Wenholz and Roy Drago Jr.

Stuart Dick said he turned in more than 720 signatures for each petition to Morrow County Clerk Bobbi Childers.

Childers now has 30 days to verify every signature. With the primary election coming up on May 21, she said it likely will take her until early June to complete the process.

If fewer than 613 signatures are valid, then the recall process stops.

But if at least 613 are valid on a given petition, the commissioner named on that petition will have to decide whether to resign within five days or provide a 200-word statement of justification to be printed on the ballot and face a vote.

A recall vote must take place no later than 40 days after the petition signatures are validated, so it’s possible there won’t be a final outcome on the recall process for about two months.

Complicating matters, Drago is running to keep his seat on the County Commission, and may be voted out of office anyway during the May 21 primary. Regardless of the outcome, he could be recalled.A commission candidate needs at least 50% of the vote plus one to win the election. With four candidates running — Kelly Doherty, Richard Drake and Gus Peterson, in addition to Drago — Childers said “hardly ever” would one of them win enough of the vote to have the election decided in the primary. Instead, the two candidates with the most votes will move on to the general election in November.

“The top two vote-getters would, safely, in my brain, go on to November,” Childers said.

If Drago is not in the top two during this election, he could be recalled for the last few months of his term, which ends in January. If he wins a majority in the primary vote or the general election, then he still could be recalled for the final months of his current term, but would be reinstated again in January 2025, when the new term begins.

A recall is only valid for the current term, so if he wins the election and people want to recall him again, they would have to wait six months and a day to start the process over.

Drago said he would not resign if enough signatures are verified to go to a vote. He wants to maintain his role as commissioner.

“If they’ve got enough valid signatures to take it to a vote, I guess we’ll have to let the people make the decisions,” he said. “I have fears that recalls have become just an avenue for people if they don’t agree with you, but all of the issues that were being petitioned of us are issues that we inherited when we took the position a year and a half ago and we’re in the process of trying to fix these issues.”

Wenholz said he will wait to comment until signatures have been verified.

Sykes said if the signatures are verified and a recall election is called, he’s planning to fight for his seat.

“I’m not going to resign,” he said. “I’m going to wait and see what happens, see if he gets the required signatures and go from there.”