KALKASKA, MI -- A village president in a small Northern Michigan community who gained national attention in June 2017 for controversial social media posts was recalled from office this week.

Voters in the village of Kalkaska, a community of about 2,000 in Kalkaska County, ousted Village President Jeff Sieting and, in his place, elected Harley J. Wales on Tuesday, May 8.

Wales received 326 votes to Sieting's 215, according to unofficial results from the Kalkaska County Clerk's office.

A petition to recall Sieting was filed in November by a group called Kalkaska For Peace. It listed three complaints against Sieting, including his refusal to apologize for controversial social media posts.

Some of the posts posted on Sieting's personal Facebook page suggested violence against Muslims and members of the Black Lives Matter movement, and at least one called transgender a mental illness. The village president has stood by his comments, which he said are protected by the First Amendment.

Sieting has been village president since 2010, and would have been up for re-election in November.