Navigating the California Recall

If you are a registered voter in California, check your mailbox!

The California Governor’s Recall is upon us. Ballots have already gone out and voters are already voting.

So this week, we’re going to keep it short and simple and talk about why it’s actually important to vote NO on the recall and the consequences if we don’t.

What is This Recall & Why Is It Happening

California recall rules are weird and make it very easy to recall any elected official. They don’t make sense, but we still have to deal with them.

All you have to do to trigger a recall in California is to garner signatures from 12% of the past elections voters (only 70% of eligible voters actually voted in CA). No reason needs to be given. Just get the signatures and you can potentially kick someone out of office.

During the height of COVID, Republicans decided it was a great opportunity to sneak in a Republican Governor in California (I’d say ‘when pigs fly’ but the rate that this year is going, that’s probably coming in October). So they got 1.7MM signatures (of the 39.5MM Californians), officials verified those signatures, and the recall was scheduled for September 12.

How Do I Vote?

Luckily, the process to vote is beyond simple.

Every registered voter has been sent a ballot in the mail. If you haven’t seen it, it’s probably buried in your mailbox that you check every other month.

Didn’t get a ballot in the mail? No problem, there are also voting locations and you can still register to vote before August 30th. Check out your polling places or register to vote here.

The ballot has 2 questions:

1. Should the governor be recalled?
2. And if so, who should be the new governor?

All you have to do is:

1. Vote NO on question 1
2. Leave question 2 blank

A very possible scenario is that less than 50% of people vote No and a Trumpy Republican who only got 10% of the vote in question 2 becomes our governor.

Let me repeat that. We could have a Governor that less than 10% of the state wants. Yes, that’s how the recall rules work. Yes, that’s why it’s important to vote and tell your friends to vote.

Don’t Like Gavin Newsom? Vote For Him Anyway

Gavin Newsom has not always been a popular figure in California (who remembers French Laundry Gate?), but right now that doesn’t matter.

The thing is that Newsom is up for re-election in November 2022. If you aren’t a huge fan, then vote for someone else in 2022.

Why? Because we could get an extremely unqualified Governor during a time that we need leadership and competence.

If more than 50% of voters vote yes on the Recall then we lose all of the good things we enjoy as Californians:

• Vaccine and mask mandates to protect us from a deadly pandemic
• Medi-Cal low-cost health coverage (as someone on Obamacare, please don’t do that to me!)
• A minimum wage (yes, they don’t believe in a minimum wage)
• Climate action response to wildfires and drought
• Small business grants
• Universal broadband access

Recent polling shows just how tight this race is. 50% of voters don’t want to recall Newsom, while 47% do. In a state that Joe Biden one by 64% of the vote, that is not good.

The Consequences Are Too High

The leading Republican candidate in the recall has some crazy ideas about how to govern California and our state does not have the time to mess around.

• What would that climate-change-denying Republican governor do to protect our state from drought, wildfires, and other climate change-induced realities?
• Who would a Republican governor appoint if Senator Feinstein leaves office? (we could lose the US Senate majority because of this recall)
• What about vaccinations, and the battle against COVID?
• How many children will get sick when he revokes masks and vaccine mandates in schools?
• What kind of right-wing judges would he appoint?

At a time when we’re fighting a deadly pandemic that is killing people in predominantly red states and climate change is accelerating, we can’t afford a Trumpy GOP Governor.

Tell your friends, your family, your neighbors, the guy at the coffee shop, tell everyone.

Vote NO on the Recall. & spread the word!