SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A week after Governor Gavin Newsom won California’s recall election, talks about changes to the process continue to grow. The state’s recall process is under scrutiny after costs to hold the election reached $276 million.
California is one of 19 states that allows voters to remove state officials before the end of their term. Only two governors have been successfully recalled in the U.S. but 75% of Californians still want the power to do it.
California Democratic leaders Senator Steve Glazer and Assemblyman Marc Berman announced they’ll hold bipartisan meetings in the coming months to discuss the state’s recall election process. The recall system was established 110 years ago and a recent poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California says most Californians want to reform the process.
“This recall process is just not particularly fair to voters. It’s a lot of money that we spend on elections we don’t need to have,” said Will Rodriguez-Kennedy, Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party.
Rodriguez-Kennedy said the recall process is a political tool and there are multiple ways to improve it, including raising the threshold for how many signatures are required. Signatures from at least five counties must each equal 1% of the total number of votes cast in the last election for governor. Election results show just over 57% of voters in San Diego County voted NO in the recall election.
"San Diego is a city and county that believes in science, that supports its environment and now supports its governor. We have seen a struggle in terms of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and we’ve seen a governor make sure that this state has done better than other states lead by Republicans,” Rodriguez-Kennedy said.
News 8 reached out to the San Diego County Republican Party about reforming the recall process but they had not responded as of Monday night. Political Analyst Laura Fink said because of the divisive nature of today’s political landscape, having a bipartisan effort to reform isn’t likely.
“It would be very difficult for Republican leaders to buck their party and buck their constituents, many of whom, I’m sure, supported the recall. So, we are likely to see reforms moving forward, with the only check on the power to reform being in the hands of the voters,” Fink said.
Fink also said Democratic Party has the majority in the Senate and Assembly to put constitutional amendments on the ballot but they’ll still need some Independent voters to win statewide approval.
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