The recall petition for Mayor Vince Gray.

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics today gave the OK to two recall petitions, one targeted at Mayor Vince Gray and the other at D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown. Starting today, the petitions will be allowed to be circulated.

During a brief session, the board told recall sponsor Frederick Butler that he will have until August 13 at 5 p.m. to collect the requisite signatures needed to get the recalls on the ballot. How many signatures, exactly? 45,638, which is 10 percent of the current tally of registered voters in the District. Additionally, the total has to include signatures from at least 10 percent of registered voters in five of the city’s eight wards.

Each recall petition will include a statement by Butler, one from either Gray or Brown in response and space for 20 signatures from registered voters. (That’s over 2,200 petition sheets that will have to be turned in.)

Butler’s effort currently doesn’t have much money to its name, but there have been rumors of former mayoral contender Don Peebles throwing some money in to support it. Even if he does, the recall effort faces tough odds — every mayor spare Walter Washington have been subjected to a recall attempt, but no one has ever collected the necessary signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

And if you’re wondering, yes, a recall is the same as un-electing someone.