A recall petition can be added to the ballot in order to remove an elected official before their term ends. It arrived in the same 1911 progressive reform package that created the ballot initiative.
Any elected official in California can be recalled, from school board members to the governor, and recalls can be promoted for any reason or none at all. The petition will state the grounds for removal, but voters can judge the true intent however they like.
How hard is it for a recall petition to qualify for the ballot?
It is easier to recall elected officials in California than in most other states, which is why there are so many examples of it in the Golden State.
To qualify for the ballot, a gubernatorial recall petition needs signatures exceeding 12 percent of the votes cast in the last election for that office. This is among the lowest thresholds in the country; many states require at least 25 percent.
Recall petitions for legislators and judges in California require 20 percent to qualify.
The 2021 effort to recall Governor Newsom qualified with about 2.1 million submitted signatures, of which 1.72 million were validated, although this was helped by courts extending the 160-day submission deadline due to pandemic considerations.
How does the recall ballot work?
Recall ballots have two key questions. Should the official be recalled? If so, then who replaces them? The official is removed on a majority vote in favor of the recall.
If they are recalled, their replacement is decided by the successor candidate with the most votes, even if it does not constitute a majority.
That design is what produced the 2003 outcome in which then-governor Gray Davis was removed from office and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected, even though Schwarzenegger had less than a majority among the 135 candidates.
The structure for recall elections is now itself on the ballot: Proposition 5 (2026) would eliminate the successor election for state officers.
If it is approved, a recalled governor would be replaced by the lieutenant governor if more than two years into their term, or else replaced via special election if they have been governor for less than two years.
How often do recalls actually happen?
Statewide recall initiatives are rare, but memorable. Only two gubernatorial recalls have ever reached the ballot: Gray Davis in 2003, who was recalled, and Gavin Newsom in 2021, who was retained.
Local recalls are a regular feature. Most feature school board members, city council members, and recently some big-city prosecutors.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled in 2022, while Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon has faced repeated attempts. Hundreds of recall attempts are filed each decade, but most never qualify for the ballot.
Is the recall a check on government power or a political weapon?
Recall petitions can represent voters signaling their displeasure, political enemies pouncing on a weakened official, or both, depending on the circumstances.
The case for recall petitions is that they are the only mid-term accountability mechanism voters have. Their mere existence disciplines officials to hew close to public sentiment.
The case against recall petitions is that their low threshold for ballot access, added to a polarized electorate and paid signature-gathering campaigns, means that recalls can function as election do-overs financed by whomever lost.
Moreover, the successor rule can install someone that most voters opposed if other successor candidates split the vote.
