Just a little over the halfway mark in terms of time left to gather signatures, Recall District Attorney George Gascón campaign leaders said Friday there is “clearly a path” to getting a possible referendum on the county’s top prosecutor on the November ballot.
According to the recall counters, earlier this week the campaign reportedly had 350,000 signatures with eight weeks left to collect the needed 566,857 signatures — 10% of the registered voters in L.A. County — to qualify to be placed on a ballot.
Recall leaders have consistently said since the beginning of the campaign that they would try to collect thousands more than the required total before the July 6 deadline in order to ensure that they will have enough extra to make it through the validation at the L.A. County Registrar’s Office.
“We’re optimistic,” said Tim Lineberger, a spokesman for the recall campaign. “There’s clearly a path to getting those signatures that’s in front of us, and it’s just going to require that we don’t let our foot off the gas for one minute for the remainder of the time.”
Officials from Gascón’s anti-recall campaign had not responded to The Signal’s request for comment as of the publication of this story.
“We’re also about to do a mass mail out to a targeted group of registered L.A. County voters with millions of petitions with return envelopes,” said Lineberger. “We’ve been testing this strategy in the last few weeks and it’s been very, very fruitful.”
Lineberger said the campaign was emphasizing to volunteers and paid signature gatherers that their “clear path to success” would only be hindered if they “let up.”
“If we do this, if we can go out and get those signatures, which is obviously a monumental task, there is no doubt that George Gascón will get recalled,” said Lineberger. “So, it’s a matter of getting this on the ballot, that is the huge hurdle that we have to clear, and after that, we’re confident he’ll be removed.”
This is the second recall attempt against Gascon after a previous effort last year failed to acquire the minimum number of signatures to reach the ballot. Since he assumed office in December 2020, critics of George Gascón have said his special directives have harmed public safety while his supporters have stated he and his office are attempting to change a system hampered by systemic racism and archaic legal theory.
If the campaign reaches the required number of signatures by the July deadline, government officials will need to decide whether it will be placed on the November general election ballot or if it will require a special election on a separate date.
