From The New York Times:
Reporting from Avenal, Calif.
Leaders of the recall celebrated the effort as democracy in action.
The message: Get out.
But more than three months after the election, the recalled officials still won’t leave, claiming the process was unlawful. At a meeting in June, they made it official, voting 3 to 0 to ignore the results.
Their refusal to cede power — highly unusual even in an era of election denialism — raises a host of legal and political questions and has triggered one of the messiest recall battles in modern California history.
Town halls have devolved into screaming matches. Residents have accused one another of spreading falsehoods and malicious A.I.-generated memes, and of racially charged jabs. In the former oil boomtown turned migrant farming community, one recall supporter asked the ousted mayor, who emigrated from Tijuana as a teenager, if he needed something translated into Spanish.
Avenal now finds itself at the unlikely center of a debate that has plagued federal, state and local races across the country: What happens when elected officials refuse to follow democratic norms?
That behavior is being modeled,” Ms. Allen added, “at the highest levels in our nation.”
Recalled officials are required by state law to leave office right after votes are certified. In Avenal, because four of the five Council seats were vacated simultaneously, those positions would ordinarily have been filled by a special election.
But the recalled mayor, Alvaro Preciado — who also is a member of the Council — maintains that the county was not authorized to run the election in the first place. He does not see himself as an election denier.
“I am not refusing to step down, I am just waiting for the due process to be completed,” Mr. Preciado said, referring to ongoing legal proceedings between the recall supporters, county and ousted officials.
Avenal sits roughly halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, tucked into the hills that many Californians see as a blur as they zip along Interstate 5. The city, with less than 14,000 people, has a landfill and a large state prison whose inmates make up just over a quarter of the population. A majority of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. The city is the smallest of four in Kings County, a part of California known for its dairy, pistachios and attachment to the status quo.
On a couple of blocks with churches, taquerias and variety stores, some residents said they knew little of the recall dispute or had chosen to remain out of it. One said she was unable to vote in the recall election because of her legal status. Another said he resented that it had become the first thing some people brought up when you walked into a room.
People don’t even say, ‘How are you doing?’” said Carlos Pena, 38, who runs a restaurant on the main street that is also the community’s only bar. “First thing is: ‘So, what do you think?” he added. “What side are you on?’”
