Kansas City, Mo. ? A group seeking to force Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser out of office says it’s collected enough signatures to force a recall election.

The city clerk’s office opened on the Memorial Day holiday for the group to submit the petitions.

Group members submitted 7,459 valid signatures earlier this month and received 10 more days to collect the remaining signatures. Organizers said they submitted at least 13,000 more signatures Monday.

They were required to collect a total of 16,950 signatures to force a recall election.

The next step is for election officials to verify the names to make sure they are registered voters. Organizers will learn by next Monday if they have enough valid signatures.

Funkhouser said Monday that he would fight and defeat any recall effort.