#California recall registration

Initially, it looked like the trajectory of the pandemic and the schedule of the recall would put the question of Newsom’s governorship before voters several months into a lifted public-health crisis, reopened schools and businesses, and a robust economic boom, aided by a flood of COVID relief directed by Newsom and the Democratic legislature. They were fortunate to survive this round. Therefore, when this recall ends, state Democrats should not move on without enacting fundamental changes to how direct democracy works in the nation’s most populous state. They don’t have to settle for an absurdity like the recall rules we’ve become so familiar with over the past couple of months.

#California recall registration

Democrats have massive registration advantages and a supermajority in the legislature. In a country with a high barrier for constitutional amendments, or a state with unified Republican control and the wherewithal to draw gerrymandered maps that maintain it, this becomes a frustrating and intractable problem.īut California isn’t like that. For the sake of the state and as a signal to national Democrats, though, that cannot be the end of the story.Īmerican democracy has become polluted with circumstances where one party can win control of the executive branch without a majority of voters, or use our system’s multiple veto points and idiosyncrasies to block majorities in Congress from setting policy. Today, Gavin Newsom will beat back a recall election and remain governor of California, and it doesn’t look like it will be particularly close. Gavin Newsom speaks at a rally against the state’s gubernatorial recall election, September 12, 2021, in Sun Valley, California.