In recent months, efforts to recall Governor Gray Davis from office have drawn attention to the recall process in California. The recall is the power of the voters to remove elected officers before their terms expire. It was added to the state constitution in 1911, along with the initiative and referendum and other changes resulting from the Progressive movement.
Recall elections combine features of both a ballot measure and a candidate election. A question of recalling an elected official is placed on the ballot by filing petitions containing the signatures of the required number of registered voters. For a statewide officer, this is 12 percent of the number who last voted for the office, or in this case 897,158 signatures, based on the approximately 7.5 million who voted in the November 2002 gubernatorial election. As in other cases where signatures are gathered, such as to qualify initiatives for the ballot, more than the minimum number of signatures are obtained to allow for ineligible ones. The goal of recall proponents is likely to be roughly 1.2 to 1.3 million.
Proponents of the recall have 160 days for circulating petitions. Every 30 days, county elections officials certify the number of qualified signatures they have received to that point. Once the Secretary of State certifies that sufficient signatures have been obtained, a special election is set to take place within 60 to 80 days. However, if a regularly scheduled statewide election will take place within 180 days of certification, the recall election can be consolidated with it.
