The group seeking to force a recall election against Gov. Doug Ducey says their movement is picking up steam in the weeks after the election.

Accountable Arizona, the nonpartisan political action committee which filed the recall petition, says they’ve seen a 400% uptick in donations and an eightfold increase in volunteers since Election Day.

The group’s founder Adam Halleck told KJZZ that he launched the recall effort after witnessing Ducey’s response to Arizona’s significant COVID-19 surge earlier this summer.

“We feel like a lot of his indecisiveness and a lot of his weak measures have led to negative impacts in the state,” Halleck told KJZZ in September. “He talks about listening to the science, but none of his decision have to do with science. If he listened to science, he would have issued a statewide mask mandate.”

Halleck says Ducey’s response to the pandemic hasn’t improved, and as the state’s coronavirus numbers continue to trend in a dangerous direction, Halleck says people from across the political spectrum are seeking him out to sign the petition.

“There are people who do call themselves Republicans who are unhappy with Doug Ducey,’” Halleck said. “We have members of our group that are Republicans. We have members of our group who are Democrats. One of the largest segments of our group are people who consider themselves to be independents.

Members, he says, are united over one major issue.

“A lot of these groups, the reason is COVID-19,” he said. It’s all about taking it seriously.”

In order to force a recall election, Accountable Arizona needs to gather nearly 600,000 valid signatures by Jan. 16. So far, most of their signature gathering efforts have been located in Pima and Maricopa counties. But volunteers from across the state have expressed interest, Halleck said, and the group is sending them blank petitions to circulate in their communities.

“We will either send them physical copies of the petition, explain to them how to fill it out, how to get it notarized, and they can go collect signatures,” Halleck said. “We are getting creative because we know we have to be. There’s a strategy, we already have people who are outside of Pima and Maricopa counties.”  

They still have a steep hill to climb. They need at least half a million more signatures by January 16th to force a recall election. But Halleck says as awareness of his movement grows, endorsements are coming, and people are seeking out petitions.

“We’ve also picked up a few endorsements from elected officials,” including state Reps. Diego Rodriguez and Isela Blanc, Halleck said. 

From now until the Jan. 16 deadline, Halleck says canvassers will be out at various locations across the state seeking signatures.

If they’re able to gather the necessary signatures, and the signatures are verified, a recall election is ordered. Any qualified candidate can run against Ducey in a hypothetical recall election. So far, Accountable Arizona has not endorsed any potential challengers, but Halleck says they’d consider any candidate from any political party.

This is the second recall initiative launched against Ducey this year, and the fourth overall. Recall efforts in 2015, 2017 and earlier this year failed to submit enough signatures to force a recall election.

This year’s first initiative came from a far-right group called Arizonans For Liberty, which was opposed to the governor’s stay-at-home order. According to the Secretary of State's Office, this group did not submit any signatures by their Aug. 29 deadline.