加州国务卿办公室周一晚上宣布,组织者已经收集了足够的验证签名引发选举召回民主党州长加文·纽瑟姆。
组织者只需要不到150万个经核实的签名就可以启动全州范围的投票。该州宣布已经核实了1,626,042个签名,未来几天还将核实更多签名。
周一晚上的宣布引发了30天的期限,选民可以从名单上删除他们的签名。考虑到该州已经核实了超过必要数量的10万个签名,还会有更多的签名,这是一个小的程序障碍。
如果在30天期限后仍有必要数量的签名,那么州财政部将有额外的30天时间来评估罢免选举的成本。在这一努力之后,将开始另一个30天的时期,届时联合立法预算委员会将能够审查费用估计数。
纽森在一份声明中对这一消息作出了回应啁啾声。
“这次共和党的召回威胁到我们的价值观,并试图破坏我们取得的重要进展——从打击COVID,到帮助挣扎中的家庭,保护我们的环境,以及通过常识性的枪支暴力解决方案,”他在推特上用视频写道。“风险太大了。”
达米安·多瓦尔甘内斯/美联社
加州州长加文·纽瑟姆(中)和51区的女议员温迪·卡里略(左)以及
这是纽森自2019年上任以来第六次正式召回他,但也是第一次吸引选民。组织者报告说,他们向国务卿办公室提交了超过220万个签名进行核实。尽管共和党人声称自己是无党派的,但他们做到了支持这项努力共和党州长协会成立了一个政治行动委员会来帮助筹集资金。
召回纽森的组织者说,政府的过度干预导致了对他的领导的不满。他们列举了他的行政命令,到2035年逐步淘汰汽油动力汽车,以及滚动停电以防止野火等问题。他们还列举了一些围绕他处理冠状病毒。
纽森上任两个月后,第一次试图召回他,并与针对其他六名民主党高级官员的召回一起提交,包括副州长、国务卿和司法部长。
随着签名验证率的攀升,加州和全国各地的民主党人展开了辩护,试图将这项努力的组织者和支持者与共和党的极右翼和卡农阴谋联系起来。他们认为,在现任州长试图平息冠状病毒大流行时罢免他将对该州有害。
“停止共和党召回”是反对这项努力的运动,主要由加州民主党资助,并招募了伊丽莎白·沃伦和斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯等全国性政党的人物来帮助筹集资金。
“这次选举将是关于加州的两个不同的愿景,”停止共和党召回运动经理胡安·罗德里格斯在周一宣布后的声明中说。“共和党的召回得到了党派、支持特朗普和极右势力的支持,威胁到我们作为加州人的价值观,并试图破坏我们在纽森州长领导下取得的重要进展——打击COVID,支持正在挣扎的家庭,保护我们的环境,常识性的枪支安全法。风险太大了——我们会赢的。”
Effort to recall California governor has enough signatures to trigger election
The California Secretary of State's office announced Monday night that organizers had collectedenough verified signaturesto trigger anelectionto recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Organizers needed just short of 1.5 million verified signatures to trigger a statewide ballot. The state announced that it had verified 1,626,042 signatures, with more to verify in the coming days.
The announcement Monday evening triggered a 30-day period where voters could remove their signatures from the list. It's a small procedural hurdle to clear considering that the state has already verified more than 100,000 signatures over the necessary number, with more to come.
If the necessary number of signatures still stands after the 30-day period, the state Department of Finance will then have an additional 30 days to assess the cost of the recall election. Another 30-day period will begin after that effort, where the Joint Legislative Budget Committee will be able to review the cost estimates.
Newsom responded to the news in atweet.
"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 commonsense gun violence solutions," he tweeted with a video. "There's too much at stake."
This is the sixth official attempt to recall Newsom since he took office in 2019, but the first one that gained traction with voters. Organizers reported that they turned in over 2.2 million signatures to the secretary of state's office for verification. Although they claim to be nonpartisan, Republicans haverallied around the effort-- and the Republican Governors Association launched a political action committee to help fundraise for it.
Organizers in the effort to recall Newsom have said government overreach has led to dissatisfaction with his leadership. They cited his executive order to phase out gasoline-powered cars by 2035 and rolling power outages to prevent wildfires, among other issues. They also cited a number of issues surrounding his handling of thecoronavirus.
The first attempt to recall Newsom came two months after he took office and was filed alongside recall attempts taking aim at six other top Democratic officials, including the lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general.
As the signature verification rate climbed, Democrats in California and across the country launched a defense, seeking to tie organizers and supporters of the effort to the far-right wings of the Republican Party and the QAnon conspiracy. They argued that removing a sitting governor as he tries to quell the coronavirus pandemic would be harmful to the state.
Stop the Republican Recall, the campaign against the effort, is primarily funded by the California Democratic Party and has recruited national party figures, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Stacey Abrams, to help fundraise.
"This election will be about two different visions for California," Stop the Republican Recall campaign manager Juan Rodriguez said in a statement Monday following the announcement. "The Republican recall -- backed by partisan, pro-Trump, and far-right forces -- threatens our values as Californians and seeks to undo the important progress we've made under Governor Newsom -- fighting COVID, supporting families who are struggling, protecting our environment, common-sense gun safety laws. There's simply too much at stake --we will win."