LAKEPORT, Calif. – The effort to recall Lake County's sheriff has failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

On Friday Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley released the results of the official signature count in the bid to recall Sheriff Frank Rivero.

Fridley and her staff took the full 30 business days allotted to go through the 7,778 signatures that the Committee to Recall Rivero and Restore Integrity submitted Aug. 15 after the 120-day collection period.

Approximately 7,026 valid signatures from registered Lake County voters were necessary to qualify the recall for a special election, Fridley said.

Of the signatures submitted, 5,715 were valid and 2,063 were invalid, said Fridley. That equates to 73.5 percent being valid and 26.5 percent being invalid.

She said her office always recommends that petitioners collect 25 to 30 percent more than the number required to cover invalid signatures.

The count was finalized just before 5 p.m.

“We had to check and recheck,” said Fridley, noting that her staff verified every single signature.

The recall proponents launched the effort in March following a unanimous no confidence vote the Board of Supervisors gave Rivero.

The supervisors also requested, in writing, that Rivero resign. Rivero refused and the circulation of the recall petitions began in April.

The recall effort resulted, in part, from District Attorney Don Anderson's determination earlier this year that Rivero had lied about his actions during a nonfatal shooting in February 2008 during which Rivero – then a deputy sheriff – shot at an unarmed man.

As a result, Rivero is now a “Brady” officer, a designation named for the 1963 US Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland that requires prosecutors disclose to criminal defendants exculpatory information, including credibility issues relating to officers involved in their cases.

Ron Cottingham, president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, or PORAC, told Lake County News earlier this year that Rivero's Brady determination was “a highly unprecedented event,” with the association not aware of any California sheriff or police chief ever having received one before.

In addition to the Brady issues, the recall committee had accused Rivero of unethical failure, failing to follow through on major campaign promises – including forming a citizens’ oversight committee – and alienating other law enforcement agencies in the county.

Rivero is now almost 33 months into his first term. The sheriff's job will be up for reelection next year.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.