A group of North Idaho women on Wednesday officially launched a campaign to remove Gov. Brad Little from office over his response to the coronavirus pandemic, which included closing many businesses and requiring Idahoans to stay at home to narrow the spread of COVID-19.

The Idahoans for the Recall of Governor Brad Little group formed last month with the creation of a website and Facebook page. The group on Wednesday officially filed a petition with the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office with the hopes of gaining the signatures of about 183,500 registered Idaho voters needed to put the recall of Gov. Little on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

“We were all willing to give the governor two weeks and there was a period of time where everyone was saying this (coronavirus pandemic) seemed to be a big deal,” said Charity Dooley-Myser, one of five women spearheading the recall effort. “There came a point where nothing was being addressed appropriately. Instead of having the courage to speak up himself and change our course of direction because (COVID-19) has not affected Idaho the way we expected it to, and returned our liberties to us immediately and allowed our businesses to flourish, (Gov. Little) has decided to take the action he has. So, therefore the people are going to take the action they need to.”

A spokesperson for Brad Little did not return the Idaho State Journal’s request for comment for this article when contacted Wednesday.

According to the group’s website, the recall petition was launched because Little, “has abused the trust of the citizens of Idaho by willfully ignoring our grievances and turning a deaf ear to our representatives. Governor Little’s unilateral actions have irrevocably damaged our financial stability, cherished freedoms and trust in our system of government.”

The Journal learned of the petition to recall Little via a letter to the editor Pocatello resident and a supporter of the group, Karyn Simmons, sent to the newspaper on Tuesday.

Simmons declined to comment for this story when contacted Wednesday, referring all questions to the group’s website.

In the letter, Simmons wrote, “Idahoans for the Recall of Governor Brad Little is a statewide grassroots recall effort, born from the conviction that the governor’s stay-at-home directives violated cherished, basic civil liberties enshrined in our Bill of Rights. Just three among them are our freedom of worship, our freedom of assembly and our right to property.”

Chief Deputy Secretary of State Chad Houck told the Journal on Thursday the petition to recall Little filed by the Idahoans for the Recall of Governor Brad Little was approved. The group now has 75 day to obtain signatures equal to 20 percent of the number of registered voters in the 2018 general election in which Little was elected, which is about 183,500 signatures.

If the group acquires the necessary number of signatures, which requires verification from the Secretary of State’s Office and the counties in which they are gathered in, the governor would be afforded five days to tender his resignation and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin would be delegated the office of the governor for the remainder of the term.

McGeachin, who has been quite vocal against Little’s stay-home order in recent weeks, did not return the Journal’s several requests for comment for this article.

If they get the required number of signatures and the governor opts against resigning, the secretary of state would call for a special election that would put a recall question on the upcoming general election ballot.

In order for the recall to pass during the upcoming general election, at least 361,661 Idahoans — the amount of people who voted for Little in 2018 — must vote in favor of the recall and that number must be larger than the votes against recalling Little.

“This is a very organic, grassroots campaign,” said one of the group’s organizers, Jennifer Zehner, when asked to describe the motivations for creating the petition. “Idahoans of all ages, demographics, Republicans, Democrats, independents, all types of political parties are unhappy with what’s going on.”

Zehner continued, “We would like Idaho to have a second chance to see if they would want to elect Brad Little as governor. This is not about five people or a small community. This is about all of Idaho to have the choice to do it again and see if they would still decide on Brad Little. And if they do, that’s the people’s decision and we will all have to stand by it.”