A political shakeup over a multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence data center has escalated in an eastern Missouri city, where petitioners secured enough signatures to trigger recall elections for the mayor and two city councilmen. 

The petitions follow an April election in which voters ousted four other councilmen who supported the Festus data center project, near St. Louis. 

Jefferson County Clerk Jeannie Goff certified the signatures last week, which included razor-thin margins. Petitioners exceeded the threshold by just four signatures for Mayor Sam Richards, nine signatures for Councilman Kevin Dennis and achieved the exact number needed for Councilman Michael Cook.  

A fourth petition targeting Councilman Dave Boyer fell 36 signatures short after several signers were found to live outside the district. Petitioners have until June 7 to submit additional signatures. 

Goff explained how her office relies on statewide petition guidelines to fill regulatory gaps. 

“Chapter 77 for third-class cities for the recall petition that allows them to do these petitions does not give a lot of detail,” Goff told The Lion. 

State law says the city of Festus must “order the question” before a recall election date can be set, but it does not explicitly establish a deadline for when the council must issue the order. 

Once ordered, the special election must be held “as soon as practicable,” with the timeline determined by the county clerk. 

Goff said it takes at least 10 weeks to prepare a ballot because of programming, printing and military absentee voting requirements. The deadline to place the recall on the August primary ballot has already passed, meaning the earliest standard election date available is November. 

Money also plays a role in scheduling special elections. Elections are typically less expensive for municipalities when multiple districts share prorated costs based on registered voter counts. 

“When [cities are] sharing the election cost, proportioned by that number of registered voters, it’s just going to decrease the cost. But if they hold an election all by themselves, the expenses are going to increase,” Goff said. 

Recall leader Mary Fakes said Thursday that petitioners are not willing to wait until November. 

“We understand the heavy lift of placing something on a ballot. We understand it is going to cost money to do that, but keeping someone in an office when the citizens have requested a recall, we feel is not necessarily in the best interest to continue with the trust rebuilding at this point,” Fakes said.