Recall petition filed against Portland Mayor Wheeler July 01 2021 Critics have 90 days to collect nearly 50,000 valid signatures of Portland voters to prompt a recall election. The campaign to recall Mayor Ted Wheeler kicked off with the filing of the prospective election petition on Thursday, July 1. "Portland has endured years of crisis. When we needed a leader to solve problems, Ted Wheeler's inaction made our challenges worse," it reads in part. The petition was filed by chief petitioner Melissa Blount, a Portland Public Schools teacher librarian. She referred all questions to the Total Recall political action committee that is organizing the signature gathering.