Lawmakers Looking To Make Future Recall Elections More Difficult

Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom easily a recall challenge this week, and Democratic lawmakers are now trying to make it more difficult to mount future challenges.

The Associated Press reports that the proposals being reviewed in Sacramento include requiring wrongdoing on the part of the officeholder, increasing the number of required signatures and changing the process so that someone with a small percentage of votes couldn’t replace the state’s top elected official.

1.5 million signatures were collected for the recall of Governor Newsom. The state requirement is 12-percent of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election. Proponents of reforms argue that states like Kansas require signatures of 40-percent.

Republican Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto, vice chairman of the elections committee, says that Republicans will seek to ensure that proposals do not prohibit voters’ ability to hold lawmakers accountable.

California Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, estimates the total cost of the recall election will push up near $300-million. Statewide, 63-percent of voters opposed the recall and 36-percent were in favor. It was the opposite, locally. In Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, 61-percent were in favor of the recall and 39-percent were opposed.