In November, Comstock Township residents started a campaign to recall four members of the township board after they voted yes on a motion to end a moratorium on large-scale energy projects.
Organizers confirmed that all of the signatures collected in that campaign to recall clerk Nicole Beauchamp and trustees Kristie Cherry, Terry McIver and Bob Pratt have since expired.
Now the group is gathering a new round of signatures to recall the same four officials — this time, driven by a different dispute.
On March 24, Beauchamp, Cherry, McIver and Pratt all voted in favor of recommending that the state's Liquor Control Commission revoke Comstock township supervisor Ben Martin's liquor license for his business, Soil Friends.
Soil Friends produces and sells hard cider — a fact that became the topic of much debate this year when a complaint highlighted a decades-old township ordinance that says elected officials in Comstock Township cannot be "interested" in the production or sale of alcohol.
Martin is an elected official. Fellow board members discussed whether he should resign, and ultimately voted to recommend the revocation of his liquor license in a 4-2 vote.
During the vote, community members shouted and booed at the board members who voted against Martin, with many claiming the move was an insult to small business owners.
Now, the push to recall the four members who voted against Martin has ramped up again — with the "Four Recalls for a Better Comstock" Facebook page now featuring messaging about the liquor license dispute as reasoning for the recall campaign.
According to Michigan law, a valid recall petition must be approved before it can begin gathering signatures. Once the necessary amount of signatures are collected, the petition must be filed within a certain time frame.
A successful petition triggers a recall election, in which the official who is up for recall runs against a candidate selected by the opposing party. Based on the results, the official is either recalled and replaced by their opponent, or they retain their seat. The official remains in office until the recall vote is decided.
In this case, all four officials would run in a recall election if the petitions were successful. According to online political encyclopedia Ballotpedia, the nationwide success rate for recall efforts was around 10% in 2025.
