The Basics Explained: The CA Governor Newsom Recall Initiative
So far, the campaign to recall CA Governor Newsom is on track to get “the signatures they need by a deadline of 17 March.[2] “To qualify the recall effort for the 2020 ballot, petitioners must collect 1,495,709 valid signatures, which is equivalent to 12% of the 12,464,235 votes cast in the last election for governor.[1]
If their efforts succeed, a recall election could be held before the end of the year…. It’s still extremely unlikely that a majority of Californians would choose to oust Newsom. State records show almost every California governor since 1960 has faced recall efforts, but only one – Gray Davis in 2003 – has been successfully removed”[2].
But “recalling a governor isn’t easy…. In California, since the recall got put into place back in 1911, there have been 49 efforts to recall a governor… Of that number, only one actually qualified and succeeded — and that was the only against Gray Davis back in 2003.”[1]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/01/gavin-newsom-california-push-recall.
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/newsom-california-recall-signatures/index.html.