Recall effort ends against Reyes
SAN LUIS, Ariz. – Less than a month after it began, the petition drive to recall Yuma County Supervisor Tony Reyes ended.
San Luis resident Gary Snyder said he withdrew on May 7 the application he submitted to the Yuma County Recorder’s Office for petitions targeting the supervisor who represents District 4.
Had Snyder collected the required number of signatures from registered voters in the south county district, Reyes would have had to defend his seat in a special election.
Snyder said he suspended the effort against Reyes to dedicate more time to his previously launched recall efforts against other elected officials in San Luis.
“The people started recommending that I focus more on the recalls against members of the Gadsden (Elementary School) district and on the (San Luis) city council, and we are working on that.”
In April 19 application for recall petitions targeting Reyes, Gary Snyder alleged the supervisor used his other position as head of the Comite de Bienestar, a nonprofit San Luis housing development organization, to exert undue influence on voters in the city and on the San Luis City Council and the governing board of the Gadsden school district.
Reyes, who previously said Snyder was abusing the state law that provides for recalls of elected officials, said he was pleased by Snyder’s decision to end the petition drive against him.
Meanwhile, Snyder has a June 9 deadline to turn in the required number of petition signatures to recall Gadsden district board members Guillermina Fuentes, Gloria Torres and Rosa Varela. The district covers San Luis and neighboring Gadsden.
He also June 12 and June 13 deadlines to submit petitions to recall Torres from her seat on the San Luis City Council and to recall Councilman Jose Ponce.
Snyder in 2020 campaigned unsuccessfully for seats on the city council and the Gadsden board. The incumbents he has targeted in the petition drives have charged he is trying to achieve through recall what he couldn’t by vote of the people.