California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced Wednesday that the petition to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom maintained enough signatures to initiate an election following a 30-day period when signatories could choose to withdraw their signatures.
County election officials across the state reported that 48 people had withdrawn their signatures, according to the statement released by the Secretary of State’s office. Counties had until June 22 to report withdrawn signatures to Sacramento.
“(The) remaining 1,719,900 verified signatures still meet the threshold to initiate a recall election,” according to the statement.
Local organizer Dawn Christensen said local supporters of the recall campaign have grown frustrated with the length of the process, but they’re happy to have made it this far.
“We’re excited to be here. It’s been a long-fought battle,” said Christensen, who worked with volunteers in the SCV and Antelope Valley to collect around 100,000 signatures in Los Angeles County. “(For) most of us, this is our second go-around. It’s hard work to get that many signatures.”
Andrew Taban, president of SCV Democrats, said he’s confident California voters will vote to keep Gov. Newsom for his leadership during the pandemic.
“We were able to come out of (the pandemic) with a booming economy,” said Taban. “This is another failed attempt for the Republican Party to yet again go against the majority of Californians to simply find a way to throw out election results.”
The California Department of Finance now has until Aug. 5 to submit cost estimates for the recall election to the governor and the lieutenant governor, the secretary of state, and the chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
After 30 days to review and comment, the secretary of state will certify that the recall petition has a sufficient number of signatures to trigger an election.
The California Constitution requires that a recall election be held between 60 and 80 days after certification, meaning Californians may be voting for governor sometime in November 2021.
