McKinney organizers say petition has enough signatures for mayor, city council to face recall elections

Organizers of a petition drive in McKinney are confident that they have obtained enough valid signatures to force the mayor and three city council members to face recall elections. 

The city secretary's office is going through those signatures, which could have a major impact on the future of McKinney. 

John Aselton personally carried boxes with signatures to the city hall a day before Saturday's deadline just to be safe. 

"We're very confident our volunteers were trained exceedingly well," Aselton said. 

The organizer of McKinney Recall says his group has collected more than 7,000 signatures of registered city voters. 

That's well above the 5,805 he says is required to trigger a recall election of Mayor Bill Cox and three city council members. 

"In total, our aggregate signatures is right around 7,500," Aselton said. "And of those, we internally validated 6,500."

Aschelle Morgan, the Senior Executive Communications and Public Affairs Manager for the City of McKinney, acknowledged the delivery and told CBS News Texas:

"The recall petition contains approximately 540 pages and around 7,400 signatures. Not all of the signature lines on every page were used. Over the coming weeks, the City Secretary's Office will examine the petition, verify the number of signatures that satisfy the requirements of the City Charter and state law, and report the findings to the City Council."

Those behind the recall insist there's more involved than just the recent city council approval of a mosque expansion. 

Michael Phillips with Human Rights Dallas doesn't buy it.   

"I think it's clearly based on the comments that were made at the city council," Phillips said. "People want a scapegoat for whatever problems are going on in the country. And I will say this, this recall is motivated entirely by prejudice, by Islamophobia."

With the mosque expansion already approved, those behind the recall insist it's only one of multiple city decisions that they believe too often ignore public input. 

The message here is not a reversal, but it's a pivot to addressing the concerns and being viewed as good fiduciaries of the voters. 

We want our voices heard and we want faithful representation