Tuesday, September 16, 2003
This is overdue, but Tom asked me some questions about the CA Recall.
So what do Californians in general think about this recall? I've heard
opinions from elsewhere, but not really what most Californians think. Will
there be a large turnout or do a lot of people think it's stupid and will
stay home? And I just heard on the radio that, let's say Arnie got elected,
democrats could turn right around and recall him!
Well, I think a lot of people think that the recall is not really justified
in the case of Gray Davis. It's supposed to be a last resort when other
means (impeachment) either don't work or can't be used, so the expectation
is that something really bad, but not quite illegal, has been committed.
However, ever since this Progressive amendment was made to the CA State
constitution, every Governor has been the subject of a recall attempt. This
is just the first to succeed.
Now that the recall is going to happen, most people are ok with it. No,
Californians won't be staying home. This is an important decision.
It's kind of scary that 12% (I think that's the number I heard) of the
electorate can bring about a recall (in the majority of states, the rep-dem
split is about 50-50) and that then some minority of the electorate can
again elect a governor (since only a plurality is needed to win).
It's not 12% of the electorate that's required to bring a recall. It's 12%
of the number of people who voted in the election in question. In this case,
that's about 8 million people who voted in the 2002 election (CA has about
35 million people). So they needed slightly over 800,000 people to sign.
They got over 2 million.
BTW, Davis won the election with 35% of the vote. Bill Simon had 32%. With 8
million voters that's only about 240,000 votes. Not a resounding victory.
And why don't they split the cost of this recall (is it 60 million?)
between all of the prospective candidates (instead of just 3500)? Or maybe
the winner (if it's other than Davis) should have to pay for the cost of it
if elected? Or maybe the losers should have to split it? How many people
live in CA? I suppose your share is a buck or two.
Yep, about $2 each of the 35 million residents of CA. Once the recall is
started, this is just like any other election (or, it's supposed to be - at
least from an implementation standpoint). The fees charged and the costs are
the same as for any other election.
opinions from elsewhere, but not really what most Californians think. Will
there be a large turnout or do a lot of people think it's stupid and will
stay home? And I just heard on the radio that, let's say Arnie got elected,
democrats could turn right around and recall him!
Well, I think a lot of people think that the recall is not really justified
in the case of Gray Davis. It's supposed to be a last resort when other
means (impeachment) either don't work or can't be used, so the expectation
is that something really bad, but not quite illegal, has been committed.
However, ever since this Progressive amendment was made to the CA State
constitution, every Governor has been the subject of a recall attempt. This
is just the first to succeed.
Now that the recall is going to happen, most people are ok with it. No,
Californians won't be staying home. This is an important decision.
electorate can bring about a recall (in the majority of states, the rep-dem
split is about 50-50) and that then some minority of the electorate can
again elect a governor (since only a plurality is needed to win).
It's not 12% of the electorate that's required to bring a recall. It's 12%
of the number of people who voted in the election in question. In this case,
that's about 8 million people who voted in the 2002 election (CA has about
35 million people). So they needed slightly over 800,000 people to sign.
They got over 2 million.
BTW, Davis won the election with 35% of the vote. Bill Simon had 32%. With 8
million voters that's only about 240,000 votes. Not a resounding victory.
between all of the prospective candidates (instead of just 3500)? Or maybe
the winner (if it's other than Davis) should have to pay for the cost of it
if elected? Or maybe the losers should have to split it? How many people
live in CA? I suppose your share is a buck or two.
Yep, about $2 each of the 35 million residents of CA. Once the recall is
started, this is just like any other election (or, it's supposed to be - at
least from an implementation standpoint). The fees charged and the costs are
the same as for any other election.
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