Westminster City Councilwoman Kimberly Ho has dodged a recall election.

Though a pro-recall group in January submitted 4,038 signatures of residents who they said wanted to oust Ho, the Orange County Registrar of Voters said this week that it could validate only 2,381 of those signatures. That left the effort 285 signatures short of forcing a recall election.

Things looked hopeful for recall proponents when, with some fanfare, they dropped off boxes of signed petitions at City Hall on Jan. 13. At the time, the group believed it had gathered just over 50% of the signatures required to put a recall on a ballot.

That gave advocates the wiggle room recommended by the Registrar to counter the probability of invalid signatures. However, as it turned out, the margin was not wide enough.

Registrar staff counted 1,657 invalid signatures. That total includes: 274 names of people not registered to vote; 138 who do not live in Ho’s district;152 who withdrew their OKs; 60 who were registered to vote at a different address from the one given; 18 who registered too late; 24 who did not provide an address; 200 whose signatures did not match those on file; two who neglected to sign, and 166 duplicates.

Another 623 signatures were disqualified as a result of mistakes made in filling out the petition forms.

Ho said she was “very relieved and a little surprised.”

Ho also alleged that petitioners randomly collected signatures without inquiring about voter registration status.

“They put out tables in front of the Asian Garden Mall on Bolsa Avenue and grabbed anybody they could just to get the numbers up,” Ho said. “They wanted to psyche everyone out and act like they have a lot of supporters.”

Recall proponents did not return requests for comment.

The Registrar’s office billed Westminster $16,635 for conducting the signature verification.

A special recall election would have cost the city another $100,000 or more – and might yet. The same proponents dropped off signatures for Councilman Carlos Manzo on their deadline of Feb. 5, which happened to coincide with the Little Saigon Tet Parade.

For Manzo, advocates submitted petitions to the City Clerk bearing 2,873 signatures – about 700 more than legally required but well under what is recommended by voting experts. The Registrar’s office has until mid-March to certify those signatures.

Ho represents District 3, which includes much of Little Saigon. She was elected at large in 2016, and reelected within the newly drawn district in 2020.

Ho survived a previous recall attempt two years ago. That effort attracted enough signatures to force an election, but the idea was rejected at the polls.

Manzo, elected to his first term in November of 2020, serves District 2.

Some residents complain that Ho and Manzo consistently vote against the interests of Little Saigon.

In previous years, Ho tended to vote with Mayor Tri Ta and Councilman Charlie Nguyen – the three of whom formed a solid majority. But she changed course in April of 2021, joining Manzo and Councilman Tai Do in axing a proposed renovation of the Civic Center.

But in a much more heated debate, the new majority drew fire for pausing a park monument honoring a 1972 South Vietnamese victory over North Vietnam.

“(Ho) betrayed us,” recall organizer Dao Tran said in prior interview.

As for Manzo, Tran said, “What he did, and is doing, is against Vietnamese wishes.”

Ho said she thinks the unsuccessful outcome of the signature certification for her recall bodes well for Manzo as well.

“I would assume Carlos’ results are going to be the same,” she said. “I hope so, anyway.”