Since 1913, there have been 182 recall attempts of state officials in California, including the latest involving Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, which is the eighth attempt to recall him since he took office in January 2019.
In 11 instances, the recall efforts collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, and of those, an elected official was recalled six times, according to data from the California Secretary of State.
The only California governor voted out of office was Democrat Gray Davis in 2003; Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced him. Davis was just one of two U.S. governors to be voted out of office through a recall election; the other was North Dakota Republican Lynn Frazier in 1921.
Only 19 states and the District of Columbia allow citizens to remove an elected official from office at any time through a recall election.
The process typically involves gathering a required number of signatures on a petition by a specific deadline. Details of the recall process vary by state.
A recall effort in 2021 against Newsom because of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic was successful in forcing an election to remove him, but he survived with 61.9% voting against the effort. Conservative podcast host Larry Elder was the top vote-getter among replacement candidates, with 48.4% of the vote. Newsom was elected to a second term in 2022.
This time, a campaign to recall Newsom is being waged largely as result of his mismanagement of the wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles County in the past two weeks.
To recall Newsom, according to the Secretary of State's office, a petition must be signed by registered voters equal in number to 12% of the last vote for governor. In the 2022 election, a total of 10,933,018 voted, according to Ballotpedia, meaning the petition needs roughly 1.3 million signatures to move forward.
Signatures must be obtained from at least five counties and must be equal in number to at least 1% of the last vote for governor in each of five counties.
A petition with the required number of signatures must be filed with the Secretary of State within 160 days from the day the Secretary of State certifies the recall notice has been filled out correctly.
Every 30 days, election officials update the number of signatures that have been collected, and once the number of signatures reaches 10% of those who voted in the previous election, election officials begin to verify the signatures.
Within 60 days after the deadline, elections officials must verify all the signatures. Between 60 and 80 days after the signatures are certified, an election will be held, and candidates have 59 days before the recall election to file their candidacy.
If the majority votes no, Newsom stays in office. If the majority votes yes, the highest vote-getter among the replacement candidates is declared governor.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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