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A LOOK AT: Why Deep Blue California Could Elect a Bright Red Governor
Publication: The New York Times
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/opinion/newsom-recall-california.html
Summary: Kathryn Olmsted proposes that the recall election represents an archaic government policy that can lead to an “aggrieved” minority electing someone to power that does not reflect the true will of voters.
Things to Consider:
Any provision, law, or public action that could potentially dimmish the value of our elections should be seen as a direct threat to the integrity of our democracy. This opinion piece from The New York Times argues that the gubernatorial recall in California is doing just that, and subtly urges voters to challenge and reconsider its continued use. However, it unfairly characterizes the recall and provision as an “anti-majoritarian” agenda, omits important details about its history, and does little to acknowledge and support one of the most lauded populist ideals that permeates our country today: hearing the voice of the minority.
Like the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, the Senate itself and the Electoral College, California’s recall process allows a determined minority to overrule the will of the voters. (Excerpt from the article).
Recall proponents need attain the signatures of only 12 percent of voters in the most recent election for governor. (Many other states set the minimum at 25 percent.) Still, despite dozens of attempts, recall organizers almost always failed to get enough signatures within the 160 days prescribed by law. The one exception occurred in 2003, when voter anger over rolling electrical blackouts led to the recall of another Democrat, Gov. Gray Davis and his replacement by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood celebrity and a Republican. The recall proponents of 2021 would have failed as well, but a judge agreed to give them an additional 120 days because the pandemic made it difficult to obtain signatures in person. (Excerpt from the article).
If there have been dozens of attempts and yet only a single successful execution of this provision, the natural conclusion of her thesis, that this might be something a minority of people are able to abuse, is inherently flawed. It also becomes…
