Petition to recall San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio qualifies for ballot: elections office

SAN FRANCISCO -- A petition to recall San Francisco District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio over his support for closing the Upper Great Highway officially qualified for the ballot, the San Francisco Department of Elections said Thursday.

Supporters of the recall gathered 10,523 valid signatures, over 600 more than the 9,911 signatures needed to qualify the measure for the ballot.

The recall will be held as a special election on Sept. 16. Only registered voters living in District 4, which includes the Sunset, Outer Sunset and Parkside neighborhoods south of Golden Gate Park, are eligible to participate.

Engardio angered some constituents over his push to close the coastal highway to traffic seven days a week, expanding weekend and holiday closures that had been in place since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The closure was approved by voters citywide in November through Proposition K, which created a park in place of the four-lane roadway that fronts Ocean Beach.

RELATED: SF Supervisor Joel Engardio facing possible recall over support closing down Great Highway

The measure passed by a margin of roughly 55% to 45%. But voters in Engardio's district largely rejected the measure, with results showing over 70% of voters in some precincts of District 4 opposing the closure.

The recall was initiated by a group of District 4 residents that named their campaign "Our Neighborhood, Our Future Supporting the Recall of Supervisor Engardio." The campaign has raised more than $67,000 and spent $36,000.

One of the campaign's leaders, Vin Budhai, resigned earlier this month, citing strategic differences with other organizers. The political action committee GrowSF, which supported Proposition K, alleged that former staffers associated with former Board of Supervisors member Aaron Peskin took control of the campaign upon Budhai's resignation.

Engardio started his own campaign to fight the recall, called "Stop the Recall, Stand with Joel Engardio," that has raised over $407,000 and spent about $405,000. Much of those contributions came from the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, campaign records show.