OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich — Voters in Ottawa County overwhelmingly decided to recall Republican County Commissioner Lucy Ebel Tuesday night.
Democratic challenger Chris Kleinjans earned 60% of the vote in the race for Ottawa County's District 2 seat on the board of commissioners.
The effort to recall Ebel stemmed from opposition to efforts to remove County Health Officer Adeline Hambley. The original recall petition to trigger Tuesday's election cited Ebel's vote to amend the prior Board of Commissioners' resolution in December of 2022 that courts have now affirmed was meant to place Adeline Hambley in the post of county health officer.
Ebel is a member of the far-right political group Ottawa Impact, which holds a majority of the seats on the county board of commissioners. Now that majority has slipped from seven of the 11 seats to six.
Turnout for the election was low in the county, with only about 20% of the registered voters in the county casting a ballot. The recall election took place across 10 precincts with a little more than 4,100 people turning out.
Once the votes are certified, Kleinjans will hold the seat until the November election. Kleinjan will be running as the sole Democrat for the seat in November.
Ebel has also filed to run for the seat again in November but she is facing a fellow Republican challenger in Jordan Jorritsma in the August primary election.
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