Organizers behind the effort to recall four McKinney elected officials say opponents are escalating efforts to disrupt signature collection, while a TikTok video reviewed by The Dallas Express openly urges viewers to use fake volunteer sign-ups, consume petition circulators’ time and pressure businesses that provide locations for petition activity.
Recall organizer John Aselton told The Dallas Express on Wednesday that the campaign has collected about 1,500 signatures. Organizers need 5,805 valid signatures by 5 p.m. September 26 to advance the recall effort.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, five McKinney voters launched the recall effort targeting Mayor Bill Cox, At Large 1 Council Member Ernest Lynch, District 3 Council Member Geré Feltus and District 1 Council Member Justin Beller. The affidavit cites “a loss of public confidence” and does not identify the City Council’s August 4 mosque vote or any other specific decision as the ground for removal.
Organizers say their concerns also include spending, transparency, infrastructure, growth and whether City Hall listens to residents.
Video urges tactics to slow organizers
The Dallas Express reviewed the 2-minute, 13-second TikTok posted by the account @emilyisreallytired. Text displayed across the video reads, “Recall McKinney doesn’t have the momentum they’re claiming,” followed by, “Plus: 3 Strategies you can engage in to slow them down.”
The speaker first encourages viewers to create fake online sign-ups to volunteer, explaining that doing so would make the campaign’s volunteer list harder and less reliable for organizers to work through.
She next tells viewers who encounter petition circulators, “You can ask them a million questions,” and advises them to “act interested, take time from them” before they “walk away” or “tell them they’re gross.”
For the third strategy, the speaker says opponents should “continue to make sure that they don’t have any static venues” and describes doing so “by placing pressure on small businesses.”
The video provides direct evidence that at least one opponent publicly advocated tactics specifically intended to slow the recall campaign. The Dallas Express has not established how many people acted on the strategies described in the video or whether any of the conduct violated the law.
Organizers allege additional interference
Aselton said the video fits a broader pattern organizers say they have encountered while collecting signatures.
“Opposition to a recall is lawful. Organized interference with voters is not,” Aselton told The Dallas Express.
Aselton alleged that individuals have followed prospective petition signers toward their vehicles and repeatedly attempted to interrupt people during the signing process. The Dallas Express has not independently verified those incidents.
“We will continue to follow venue rules and lawful instructions, protect the official petition forms, document what occurs, and collect signatures peacefully,” Aselton said. “No McKinney voter should be pressured to sign, and no McKinney voter should be pressured not to sign.”
Business pressure claim draws competing account
One dispute involving a petition location has produced competing explanations.
Recall supporter Ashley Marie publicly accused opponents of calling locations and pressuring business owners until they would no longer allow signature collection. A planned petition gathering at Rudy’s was subsequently canceled.
A Rudy’s manager acknowledged that the restaurant received calls from people with differing views about the gathering but said management canceled it after learning it was political because the restaurant does not host political events, TX3DNews reported.
The available evidence does not establish that calls from recall opponents caused Rudy’s to cancel the gathering. The TikTok video separately encourages viewers to place pressure on small businesses to prevent organizers from maintaining regular petition locations.
Some signers seek to withdraw
Aselton also told The Dallas Express that he has received emails from some residents asking organizers to remove their signatures from the petition.
He said he believes pressure surrounding the recall campaign may have prompted some of the requests, although The Dallas Express has not independently established why any signer asked organizers to remove a signature.
Before organizers submit the petition to the filing authority, Texas law permits a signer to withdraw a signature either by deleting it from the petition or by filing an affidavit requesting withdrawal with that authority.
Once that authority receives the petition, a signer may no longer withdraw the signature. A withdrawal nullifies the signature as though the person had not signed, according to Section 277.0022 of the Texas Election Code.
Fuller warning remains part of dispute
Former McKinney Mayor George Fuller, a vocal opponent of the recall, has separately made the public status of petition signatures part of his argument against the campaign.
In a Facebook post, Fuller wrote that residents should understand the implications of signing and that their signatures “will not exist in some private vacuum.”
“But own it,” Fuller wrote. “If you put your name behind an effort to remove elected officials for following the law, be prepared to stand publicly behind your decision and be accountable for the consequences it has for this community.”
Fuller also wrote, “And this community deserves to know who is willing to damage McKinney in pursuit of this effort.”
The recall committee previously responded that public access to a government record is “not a license for political intimidation,” as reported by The Dallas Express.
The Dallas Express has not established any connection between Fuller and the TikTok video or the alleged incidents involving petition circulators and prospective signers.
The Dallas Express reached out to Fuller for additional comment regarding his remarks and the organizers’ latest allegations but did not receive a response before publication.
