Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson would like for state law to be changed so Beaufort County voters could recall (remove from office) a commissioner before his or her current term expired.

As it stands, North Carolina law does not allow any of its 100 counties to have recall elections to remove county commissioners. Currently, about 20 municipalities in the state can have recall elections because their charters and ordinances allow them, according to the ballotpedia.org website. The Town of Belhaven is one of those municipalities, according to Beaufort County elections officials.

The change.org website advocates for recall elections in North Carolina. “Our elected officials are supposed to work for the people and at times do not represent their constituents, unresponsive and/or incompetent. Because of these reasons, the people deserve the right to recall elected officials here in North Carolina, from town mayor all the way up to the governor. Currently, our only recourse is through elections and we deserve to be able to hold our elected officials accountable before this time period,” reads a posting on the website.

Before Beaufort County voters jump on the recall bandwagon, perhaps they should consider the issue carefully. It is an issue that deserved further study.

Any recall election would come with expenses. Are voters willing to pay the costs related to a recall election? Or would it make more sense, from a financial point of view, to wait to remove an elected official until the next election cycle for that official’s position?

Would recall elections be used to remove officials who don’t represent their constituents or who have committed illegal acts? Or would recall elections be used for political purposes — removing an official whose views may differ from others — or to punish an official for voting a specific way on an issue?

About four years ago, Mark Romanowski, mayor of Johnstown, Colo., survived a recall election over, in part, a plan to switch from diagonal parking spaces to parallel parking spaces, according to the governing.com website. Is that what a recall election should be about? Rather, shouldn’t a recall election be about removing corrupt or extremely ineffective officials from office? It’s understandable why residents of Bell, Calif., sought to recall some elected officials who paid themselves exorbitant salaries with taxpayers’ money.

When it comes to a recall election, the motive for such an action needs to be clearly defined.

It’s a remedy that Beaufort County voters should carefully consider — sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease. It’s an issue worthy of debate.