Effort to recall Anchorage Assembly member Jamie Allard fails to gather needed signatures

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A petition filed to recall Anchorage Assembly member Jamie Allard was found insufficient, due to not gathering the necessary number of signatures.

Allard was elected to the assembly in April of 2020 and represents Eagle River. Allard filed to run for the Alaska House of Representatives in December, just weeks after the recall petition was filed against her.

According to a letter from Anchorage Election Official Jamie Heinz and Anchorage Municipal Clerk Barbara Jones on Thursday, only 454 of the required 2,530 signatures were submitted by recall petitioners Chelsea Foster and Kerry Brown. It’s the third recall petition filed against an assembly member to fail over the last calendar year, following efforts to recall assembly members Felix Rivera and Meg Zaletel, both of which were certified but were overturned by voters in elections.

“I really didn’t pay attention to the recall,” Allard said via text on Thursday. “I have a community to represent and a campaign to run! I appreciate the name recognition it gave me and the outpouring of support.”

Heinz wrote to the recall petitioners that they had 30 days to appeal the decision to Superior Court.

“In accordance with AS 29.26.290b.1. because the petition contained an inadequate number of signatures, the petition may not be supplemented. The Municipal Clerk’s Office has relied upon the Municipal Attorney’s opinion in these decisions,” Heinz wrote.

Brown and Foster made the effort to recall Allard on the grounds that she violated Emergency Order 15.

“Although we weren’t successful in recalling Jamie Allard, we were successful in sharing our messaging,” Foster said. “There is no place in our state for hate. As long Jamie Allard continues to demonstrate egregious behavior on the dais, we will continue to rally against her.”

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