Unless you’ve been living on Mars, you will have noticed our state is gearing up for a deeply bitter and contentious recall battle. But this isn't an ordinary election. Let’s find out why.
Here are five things to know:
- A recall election means an electorate can vote to remove an official before their term in office is over. The last one to take place in California was in 2003, when voters ousted Gray Davis in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Registered voters will be asked just two questions on the ballot: Do you want to recall the governor? And If recalled, who do you want to replace him with?
- In order to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom, more than 50% of the voters will have to answer “yes” to the first question. If they don’t, Newsom stays. But if they do, he walks and the candidate with the highest percentage of votes from the second question will become the new governor. And Newsom isn’t on that list!
- There are some that think this kind of recall election is unconstitutional. In fact, there is a lawsuit pending to that effect. It argues that if recalled, Gov. Newsom should be able to run to replace himself.
- It’s also possible that as much as 49% of the electorate could support keeping Newsom in office by voting “no” on the recall, in which case, the governor would still lose. Then another candidate could win the second question with a much smaller percentage of the vote. Notable, as polls show that of the 46 recall contenders right now, the front runner has just under 20% of the support.
- Finally, voters who wanted Newsom gone will actually get two votes: One to remove him and one to elect a replacement. That's versus just one vote for those who want Newsom to stay. Not exactly “one person, one vote” is it?
In the end, if Newsom loses the recall, his replacement would govern for only about one year before having to run again in 2022. The recall election will cost taxpayers nearly $300 million — just to turn around and do the election thing all again a year later.