In a recent poll, 75 percent of Michigan residents said they didn’t think their Governor, Rick Snyder, has handled the water crisis in Flint well, and 41% believed he should resign. Snyder has declared that he will not resign and added that he will correct the problems in Flint, but he may never get that chance.

Snyder is already under fire from several quarters: Two lawsuits have been filed against him as a result of the water problems in Flint, and though Snyder’s term ends in 2018, some residents of the state are determined to get rid of him much sooner. On Easter Sunday, a petition began circulating which would lead to the recall of Snyder. It has already gotten 108,000 signatures. As volunteer canvasser Anita Brown recently commented:

‘”He’s getting the boot. Put my name in big, blue writing: he’s out. He’s out of there.”

But a recall will not be easy to get place on the ballot. Petitioners need to collect nearly 790,000 valid signatures. The Reverend David Alexander Bullock, who is leading the recall drive, says his goal is to collect at least 900,000:

“I haven’t seen this kind of momentum in a long time.

“The energy and animus, at least a week out, is very encouraging. I think we ought to massage this energy and allow it to continue to grow. I think we got a great shot.”

For his part, Governor Syder, via a spokesperson, had this to say:

“The governor appreciates that citizens have the right to recall elected officials. However, his focus is on helping the people of Flint recover from the water crisis and helping the entire city move forward.”

State representative Tim Greimel, the Michigan house minority leader, noted the Flint crisis was created by Snyder’s “pass the buck” culture:

“It is a culture so pervasive that when scientists and Flint residents sounded the alarm, they were mocked, dismissed and subjected to public relations spin rather than being listened to,” Greimel said. “It is a culture so pervasive that for months, the problem was allowed to continue, even to the point of ignoring scientific evidence that the crisis had potentially grown to a fatal level.”

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.