A recall campaign targeting all seven elected officials in Michigan's Augusta Township has been invalidated because some petition circulators filled out their own addresses incorrectly.
For people fighting a major rezoning tied to a proposed data center, the outcome shows how procedural requirements can stop a grassroots effort before voters get a say.
Here's what to know
Washtenaw County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum ruled on August 12 that the recall petitions were "legally insufficient," a decision that left Augusta Township resident Wendy Albers "angry," according to MLive. The ruling turned on a technical defect in how some circulators listed their addresses, not on whether the campaign had enough valid signatures.
The filing, submitted July 27 and hundreds of pages long, sought recalls of the entire Augusta Township Board of Trustees. The campaign grew out of the board's 2025 votes to rezone more than 500 acres for a hyperscale data center project.
Albers said organizers thought they had exceeded the 934 valid signatures needed to trigger recall elections. Instead, the petitions were rejected because some circulators used mailing city names such as Willis, Milan, or Saline rather than identifying their township of residence.
Even so, Kestenbaum said the flaw was minor even if it determined the outcome, writing, "I come to this conclusion with very great reluctance, since this rejection is based on a small, but strictly enforced, technicality."
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More background
On August 4, township voters reversed the rezoning, with nearly 90% voting against changing the land to industrial use. That left the property zoned for residential agricultural uses, with turnouts of 47.9% in Precinct 1 and 41.4% in Precinct 2.
Albers said the petition instructions were "confusing" and "need to be updated."
Kestenbaum also described the form itself as "very misleading."
What's being done?
Albers said organizers are discussing whether to challenge the decision, restart the recall effort, or let it go.
"There are three options. You contest it, you do it again or you drop it. Conversations are being had about all three things," she said.
A court fight remains possible, but recall elections can no longer appear on the November ballot, leaving May 2027 as the next opportunity.
She is also seeking changes to Michigan recall law, especially regarding petition instructions and whether officials named in a recall can contest petitions before signature review is complete. She said the effort is meant both to address what happened in Augusta Township and to keep other communities from running into the same problem.
Washtenaw County Director of Elections Rena Basch said the clerk's office does not give legal advice and noted that some circulators completed the forms properly. She added that there were other issues as well, including signatures with dates that appeared to have been written by someone else.
"Something good could come out of this so it doesn't happen to another community," Albers said.
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