The Recall DA George Gascón campaign announced this week it has collected more than 200,000 signatures, with thousands more being turned in daily, and that the recall campaign has now raised more than $4 million to support the effort.
To get the recall on the ballot, the campaign must collect 566,857 signatures from registered Los Angeles County voters — 10% of the total current registered voters in the county. The deadline for submission to the L.A. County Registrar is July 6. If successful, the recall would likely appear on the November ballot.
More than 33 cities in Los Angeles County — the first of which was Santa Clarita — have issued votes of no confidence in Gascón in reaction to a series of directives he issued upon taking office in December 2020. Critics describe Gascón’s policies as being soft on crime.
Among those directives were orders to halt prosecution of certain categories of crime, eliminate pursuance of the death penalty, eliminate sentencing enhancements — such as those for repeat offenders and defendants charged with gang crimes — and to refrain from prosecuting minors as adults, regardless of the severity of the crime. Gascón has since partially walked back a few of the directives — for example, by recently agreeing that his office would consider prosecuting some minors as adults on a case-by-case basis.
Gascón has said his policies are part of an effort to reform the criminal justice system and reduce incarceration in favor of rehabilitation.
Leaders of the recall effort released the following statement in reaction to the latest announcements:
“The recall effort is continuing to build significant momentum as we collect additional resources and constantly optimize the paid and volunteer signature collection programs. The new recall app, added permanent signing locations, events calendar, and the accountability campaign feature will help make volunteer participation easy, simple, and fun. With the help of Angelenos, we are confident this recall will qualify and Gascón will be removed from office.”
Information on the recall effort can be found at recalldageorgegascon.com.
