By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A hearing was held in St. Louis Monday on whether the city's Board of Elections can allow people to remove their names from recall petitions.
Debra Gordon is the president of the Third Ward Democrats for the People, a group that has spearheaded a recall effort against Alderman Freeman Bosley, Senior.
She filed suit against the board's commissioners after more than 300 people removed their names from a petition to recall Bosley.
Her attorney, John Washington, argues that state doesn't allow that.
The law of the state of Missouri is that if a person presents a petition, once they file that petition, individuals are not allowed to remove their names, Washington said.
But Board of Election Commission's attorney, Jerry Wamser, says the city and state's petition requirements are different. He says while state petition efforts are limited to a few months, in the city it's open-ended.
"The recall has an unlimited time to gather signatures, so you may have nine months of gathering and the circumstances may have changed dramatically, so the question is, can a citizen say, whoa, I don't want to be a part of that any more," Wamser said.
Wamser also says allowing people to remove their names with an affidavit safeguards against fraud.
Circuit Court Judge Lisa Van Amburg said she would make a ruling soon.