Recall Signature Collecting Stops

Organizers of a Republican-led effort to recall Democratic Governor Davis say they are ending their signature-gathering drive because they have more than enough signatures to bring the measure to a vote.

Officials with “Rescue California, Recall Gray Davis” report a final Fourth of July weekend push gave them more than 1.2 million signatures, and that two other, smaller recall drives had some 200,000 signatures between them.

“Rescue California´s” director says all the signatures will be sent to county election officials by Friday to ensure they arrive by a July 16th interim deadline. Organizers believe if they meet that deadline, state elections officials will call for a special election this fall.

The recall must collect 897,158 valid signatures to make the ballot. Organizers are turning in more than that because a percentage of them will likely be found invalid.