California Gubernatorial Recall Summarized
The background and constitutionality of California’s September 14 Recall.
DATE OF EVENT
The Recall Election of Gavin Newsom is scheduled for September 14, 2021.
LOCATION
California.
BACKGROUND
A recall is when citizens can remove an elected official from office while they are still serving. The ability for Californians to recall a politician was created when Proposition 8 was passed in 1911. Only 20 states allow voters to recall a governor. In Kansas, voters can only recall if a governor commits a felony or misconduct in office. Of those 20 states, the average percentage of signatures needed is 22% , 10% more than in California. California citizens must collect signatures that amount to 12% of voters that voted in the last Gubernatorial election. Recallers must gather signatures from 5 different counties. Signatures must be equal to 1% of the number of voters in that county who voted in the last Gubernatorial election. All of these requirements make a successful recall a special occurrence. This year in California, the recall effort received 1.7 million votes, enough to trigger a recall election. 46 candidates- including 24 Republicans and 9 Democrats- are opposing Newsom. (even a youtuber: Kevin Paffrath). Larry Elder is the nominee for the Republican Party.
This is the sixth recall attempt against Newsom, but the only one to gain significant traction. Of all the recall efforts against California governors, the only one to succeed was in 2003, when incumbent Gray Davis was replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Of all gubernatorial recall attempts in the past 100 years, only four have reached the voting stage, and only 2 have removed a governor (Lynn Frazier in North Dakota and Gray Davis in California).
Newsom was elected with 62% of the vote in 2018. He had previously served as Lieutenant governor of California from 2011-2019 and was mayor of San Francisco from 2004-2010. Supporters of the recall feel that Newsom was too harsh with lockdown restrictions, was too friendly towards illegal immigrants, failed to curb homelessness, should not have rationed water, and raised taxes too high. On the other hand, Supporters of Newsom believe the recall is a power grab by the Republicans that focuses too much on partisan issues.
HOW IT WORKS
2 questions on the ballot: (1) Do you want to recall Newsom? (2) Who do you want to replace Newsom?
Even if you choose no on the first question, you can choose a replacement candidate in case Newsom receives less than a majority of the vote.
Candidate with the most votes out of the opposition candidates wins the election. (Arnold Scwarzenegger won with 48% of the vote in 2003)
If Newsom is recalled, his replacement will serve until January 2, 2023, or to the end of his original term.
The recall will roughly cost $215 million, per a Department of Finance estimate.
IN CLOSING
Newsom has called the recall "an attempt by national Republicans and Trump supporters to force an election and grab power in California." With the Democratic Party supporting Newsom, and The Republican Party opposing him, it is difficult to see this as a non-partisan issue; the recall is an underlining example of America's party politics. The counties with the highest recall signatures also voted for Trump in the 2020 election. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Alameda county all had 6% or less of their 2020 voter turnout sign the recall petition.
And the constitutionality of the recall effort has come into question- specifically, the ability for a replacement candidate to assume the governor’s seat with less than a majority of the vote. A complaint filed to the U.S. District Court for California argued that the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment was violated. Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor at UC Berkeley, hopes that the court declares the recall election invalid, or at least adds Newsom to the replacement candidate list.
The parallels between Gray Davis and Gavin Newsom are eerily similar: both face a recall for failed leadership during a crisis- one the energy crisis, the other covid- and both are facing replacement by a republican candidate. It is yet to see if history may repeat itself.
EXTRA RESOURCES
Sources