Recall campaign fails to get enough signatures to force vote on Mayor LaToya Cantrell

The high-powered campaign to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell has failed, according to an official count of petition signatures released Tuesday.

Despite declaring victory with a brass band last month, recall organizers fell about 18,000 signatures short of the total needed to force a referendum on the mayor.

Recall organizers collected 27,243 valid signatures during their six-month, $1.2 million push to depose Cantrell, whose poll numbers have plummeted amid voter discontent over crime and other issues. Still, the campaign wasn’t able to come close to the high bar of nearly 45,000 signatures needed to trigger a recall election, according to information submitted by Orleans Parish Registrar of Voters Sandra Wilson.

The huge shortfall means that any legal challenge from the recall organizers will be a long shot.

The final count could offer a boost for Cantrell, who’s been dogged by the well-funded, high-profile campaign for the last seven months.

Recall organizers submitted their petition sheets to Wilson for counting on Feb. 22. She completed her task and turned over her final count to Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday, a day before her deadline.

In total, the campaign collected about 67,000 signatures. But most of those were declared invalid by the registrar.

Recall organizers had a relatively high success rate for the first batch of signatures they turned in on the initial, Feb. 22 deadline, according to a document from Wilson’s office. 

Of the 34,625 signatures submitted for verification on that date, 79% were deemed valid.

But a mysterious, second batch of documents that recall organizers turned over to the office on the final day of a five-day addition and withdrawal period was mostly rejected as invalid. 

Staff writer Sam Karlin contributed to this developing story. Please check back for updates.