The California Recall: What Happened and What’s Next?
By Natalia Toledo
“I don’t think that any one governor is going to solve those problems, and I don’t think that Gavin Newsom created any of those problems, either.”
According to NPR, Governor Gavin Newsom beat the recall in a landslide vote of 63.8 percent no to 36.2 percent yes. For many, the burden of the recall election has eased. But for others, the pushback has only begun.
Recall elections are nothing new in California, and that was by design. According to the New York Times, “Since 1911, at least 179 recall attempts have been made against state officeholders.” However, most recall efforts don’t make it past the petition stage. A petition calling for a recall must be signed by 12 percent of registered voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election. Additionally, funds have to be set aside for the campaigns and elections, which comes at a multi-million dollar price tag. The last recall attempt that made it to the election phase was against Gray Davis, who was replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
While there are situations where ineffective governors need to be removed, experts question whether recall elections reflect the will of the majority. For example, if 49.9% of the total population vote no and 50.1% vote yes, if among the latter, more than half vote for a certain candidate, about a third of the total population would have selected the future governor.
“It would be perfectly legal under the way it’s set up now,” said US Government teacher Mariflorence Hudson. For many, this is a failing point of the recall process in the case that it proceeds. Those doubts were quickly put at ease.
Assuming that there are no other political challenges, Newsom will remain governor until his term ends in 2023, at which point he will be eligible for re-election. With the election said and done, many question the rationale behind the recall in the first place.
“There are other things we could do with that money [used in the election] that would be better used in the state,” said Hudson. “I know one thing that motivated a lot of people was schools being closed, and since schools are now open, I think some people were less galvanized to go out to vote for someone else than they had been to sign the petition in the spring.”
Because Newsom is keeping his office, it is likely that California will not be seeing anything different. In the eyes of opponents, that is exactly the problem. Critics point to existing crises in California that have not — and have yet — to be resolved, such as homelessness, wildfires, and strict COVID-19 restrictions.
It is also important to remember that no one person is to blame for California as it is now. As said by Ms. Hudson, “I don’t think that any one governor is going to solve those problems, and I don’t think that Gavin Newsom created any of those problems, either.”
