Just 43 Californians chose to withdraw their signatures from a petition demanding the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom, and the recall election will go ahead later this year.
There was a 30-day period for signatories to withdraw their names from the petition to recall the Democratic governor, but only a negligible number of people chose to do so. The number of verified signatures now stands at over 1.7 million.
That means the election is certain to take place as only 1,495,709 verified signatures were required to trigger it. No specific date has yet been set for the special election.
California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber informed the state's Department of Finance that 43 signatures had been removed during the withdrawal period, according to KESQ.
The Department of Finance will now consult with the secretary of state and county election officials about the cost of running a recall election. This consultation must happen within 30 days.
Under Californian law, the lieutenant governor is required to call a recall election to be held no less than 60 days, but no more than 80 days, after the verification of signatures.
Some opponents of the recall were hoping that more people might remove their signatures. Former California Senate President pro tem Don Perata, a Democrat, created a "Stop the Steal" committee to convince people to withdraw their signatures, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The recall election will have two parts. Firstly, voters will be asked whether they want to remove Newsom from office. Secondly, they will be asked to chose his replacement from a list of candidates.
If 50 percent of voters approve of removing Newsom, then the replacement candidate who wins the most votes becomes the next governor. The winning candidate doesn't need to win 50 percent support, but just has to defeat the other candidates. Newsom isn't permitted to run as his own replacement.
In 2003, Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat was successfully recalled using this method. Voters chose to remove him from office and elected movie star and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him. Schwarzenegger won 48.6 percent of the vote.
Newsom has criticized the campaign to recall him as a partisan Republican effort, while polls have suggested that Newsom will survive the recall election and is in a better position to defeat the recall effort than Gray was.
"This Republican recall threatens our values and seeks to undo the important progress we've made—from fighting COVID, to helping struggling families, protecting our environment, and passing common-sense gun violence solutions," Newsom said on April 27.
Newsweek has asked Governor Gavin Newsom's office for comment.
