Carson City Clerk Jim Dear’s political fate in voters’ hands. Embattled Carson City Clerk Jim Dear awaits his fate at the ballot box Tuesday, when voters will decide whether he should be recalled from office with three years remaining on his term.

Dear, 63, has been a lightning rod for controversy since winning the clerk’s seat in March 2015 from Donesia Gause, who was appointed three years prior by his City Council foes. Dear served as a part-time mayor and councilman for 14 years before seeking the higher-paid full-time clerk’s job.

Voters who support Dear’s recall have the option of voting for Gause, who only needs one vote to win the office if Dear is removed.

Retired Torrance City Clerk Sue Herbers was brought in to oversee the election because it would be a conflict for Dear to run it himself. The special election will cost roughly $200,000, according to city documents.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Once polls close, ballots will be counted at the Juanita Millender-McDonald Community Center at 801 E. Carson St. The public is invited to observe the vote tally process there.

Election-night coverage will air on the city’s television channel 35 on Time Warner Cable or channel 99 on AT&T. It also will be live-streamed to the city’s website, at ci.carson.ca.us.

For information on polling places, sample ballots and other election-related information, visit the city’s website at ci.carson.ca.us or call 310-952-1720.

The City Council called the special election in November after a group led by former Councilwoman Vera Robles DeWitt submitted 12,000 signatures — 4,000 more than needed — on petitions to qualify the recall for the ballot. A 2008 recall campaign against Dear, also led by DeWitt, failed.

The City Council had voted 5-0 in October to censure Dear in light of an independent report by an outside attorney that found he systematically harassed, threatened and discriminated against staff members.

City leaders have racked up numerous complaints about Dear’s performance as clerk, but they have no power to fire him because he’s an elected public official. This

Shortly after his election, Dear refused to certify final ballot results for newly elected Councilman Jawane Hilton. When the City Council pressed him to do so, he shouted at them publicly and stormed out of a council meeting.

Since winning the seat, city leaders say he only does a fraction of the tasks that Gause used to handle. Gause, 36, was appointed to the clerk’s seat in 2012 after serving as an analyst in the Long Beach City Clerk’s Office for eight years and as a deputy clerk in Compton for three years.