Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Schwarzenegger announces bid for governer.

Phaenx · 08-08-2003, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Overview

The recall mechanism for statewide officers and legislators in California first appeared as a constitutional amendment in 1911, one of several reform measures put in place by the Progressive administration of Governor Hiram Johnson. Basically, it requires the circulation of recall petitions. The process begins with the filing of a notice-of-intent-to-recall petition written in the proper legal language and signed by 65 voters. Once that is accomplished, the recall petition can be circulated in earnest. Petitions for the recall of statewide officers must be signed by voters equal in number to 12% of the last vote for that office, including voters from each of five counties equal in number to 1% of the last vote for the office in that county. Petitions for the recall of state legislators must equal in number to 20% of the last vote for the office.

The recall ballot has two components: a yes or no vote for recall, and the names of replacement candidates, selected by the nomination process used in regular elections. The recall measure itself is successful if it passes by a majority. In that case, the replacement candidate with a simple plurality of votes wins the office. If the recall measure fails, the replacement candidate votes are ignored.

The recall law underwent some "streamlining" changes as a result of the passage of Proposition 9 in November 1974. The changes included a new 160-day limit on signature gathering (there was no time limit previously), and the new provision for immediate recall petitioning. Previously, there was a six-month waiting period to initiate a recall petition against a statewide elected official (five days for a legislator). Now, the recall procedure can begin immediately after the election of the recall target.

Recalls have often been attempted in California against statewide officials and legislators. All governors in the last 30 years have faced some level of recall attempt. Significantly, none of the recall attempts aimed at statewide officials has ever reached the voting stage. However, recall efforts against several state legislators have reached the voting stage, and two were actually recalled. These were Paul Horcher and Doris Allen, two Republican Assembly members recalled in 1995. There have been many successful recall attempts at the local government level in California.