On Wednesday, June 27, Circuit Judge James Bickel ruled the the recall petition was flawed which sought to call an election to remove Cedar County District 1 Ambulance Board member Sue Rice from office. Judge Bickel stopped the election and ruled that the votes will not be counted even though ballots have already been printed.

Judge Bickel asked for and received the original copies of the recall petition. After he examined it, Judge Bickel ruled on only one point – the absence of affidavits anywhere in the recall petition. He said that was a fatal flaw because the new Ambulance Board Member Recall Law, 190.056, requires an affidavit on each page of signatures.

Wikipedia defines affidavit as a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant’s signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public.

Judge Bickel said that pages of the petition contained a declaration on one side (of the two sided documents) but that declaration, he said, does not rise to the level of an affadavit.

SPH-#2065507-v1-Suggestions_in_Support_of_Motion_for_Preliminary_Injunction_