Leaders of Efforts to Remind the California Government. Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom White House says Shalanda Young could serve as California’s acting OMB director to set aside 40 percent vaccine doses for the most risky areas. This is who Biden is now considering for budget chief. (D) said on Sunday they have collected enough signatures to hold special elections this year.
In a press conference, organizers announced that more than a week before the March 17 deadline, the effort collected 1.95 million signatures in support of the recall. The leaders of the recall movement said they still plan to hit 2 million before that date.
That’s more than enough to make this initiative eligible for a special election later this year to finally let the people decide … what will happen to the fate and future of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Randy Economy, a political advisor who is working on the effort, said.
“Californians are increasingly dissatisfied with how their state is running,” he added.
Election officials will have to confirm that nearly 1.5 million of these signatures come from registered California voters before the special election takes place.
In early February, the Secretary of State determined that about 83 percent of signatures collected so far had been verified, The Sacramento Bee reported. If the rate stayed the same for all petitions, it would be enough to get elections.
One of the effort’s leaders, Mike Netter, said about 1.6 million signatures were collected by volunteers.
“I don’t think you’ve ever seen a volunteer movement like this,” he said.
“They are literally people from all walks of life, all parties, all religions,” he said. “We have a diversity across the board that gathers and unites one thing, and that is the fact that California needs a new governor.”
Newsom’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
The recall movement gained traction while Newsom has been criticized for its response to the coronavirus pandemic, especially the restrictions on meetings and on certain companies.
Newsom won the 2018 governmental race with 62 percent support in the state where the Democrats have a super majority in both chambers of the state legislature.
A poll by the University of California-Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies in January found that 36 percent of respondents said they would vote against Newsom in a special election. Forty-five percent said they would support the governor if a recall election took place.