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CLEVELAND (WJW) — Unofficial election results show voters in Cleveland Heights decided to throw Mayor Kahlil Seren out of office in a landslide.
On Tuesday, voters went to the polls for a special recall vote.
As results trickled in, we saw the votes in favor of the recall trending four to five times higher than those against it. By the end of the night, 6,829 ballots (82%) had been cast to recall Seren, while 1,478 ballots (18%) had been cast to keep him in office.
We found a group of recall backers celebrating together while watching the vote totals.
They said residents had enough of the mayor and his wife making headlines and being targeted by investigations.
“This means a new day in Cleveland Heights. This means democracy won. This means the people spoke. The people were heard,” Cleveland Heights watchdog James Bates said.
Council President Tony Cuda is expected to take over by Oct. 1 after the recall votes are certified.
The mayor remains under investigation for going into the Law Department after hours. And, Cuyahoga County prosecutors indicted his wife for going into a stranger’s home.
Both the mayor and his wife denied any wrongdoing.
The FOX 8 I-Team also won a court order for police video of an incident with the mayor’s wife — yet the city still has not released that video.
On Tuesday evening, we called a number for the mayor listed on county records for comment, but a woman answered the phone and said we had the wrong number. We also texted.
In the meantime, before the polls closed, the mayor released a statement saying, in part, “… removing a sitting mayor with three months left in the term is not the best choice for Cleveland Heights.”
We’ve also shown you a change in the Cleveland Heights Mayor’s Office had already been guaranteed. Seren didn’t even make it on the ballot to run for re-election in November. He did not come up with enough valid signatures to run again.
Now, the mayor has been booted out of office early. Recall backers couldn’t wait.
“We’re gonna stay involved in this community. It’s a new day in Cleveland Heights,” Bates added.
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Ed Gallek
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