California secretary of state confirms Newsom recall election

California’s secretary of state confirmed on Wednesday that the effort aimed at recalling Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has enough signatures to trigger an election.

The confirmation from the secretary of state’s office comes after it announced in April that the recall effort had enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

In accordance with California election law, however, voters were given 30 business days to request that their signature be removed from the petition if they wished. That period lasted from April 26 to June 8.

Only 43 signatures were withdrawn from the recall petition, according to the secretary of state’s office, bringing the total number of verified signatures to 1,719,900, which “still meet[s] the threshold to initiate a recall election.”

The total number of signatures required to trigger an election was 1,495,709.

Newsom’s recall election will mark the second time in California’s history that a recall effort triggered a ballot, out of 55 attempts, according to Bloomberg.

The California Department of Finance will now be tasked with estimating the costs of the recall election, both as a special election or if it is part of the next regularly scheduled election, according to the secretary of state’s office. The department will have 30 business days to complete the calculations.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee will then have 30 days to review and comment on the estimated costs. After that, the secretary of state will then certify the signatures, allowing the lieutenant governor to set a date for the election between 60 and 80 days later.

The Hill reached out to Newsom for comment.

A petition to recall Newsom was first introduced in February 2020, before the country imposed COVID-19 restrictions, according to ABC 7. The petitioners were frustrated with how the governor dealt with a number of issues, including immigration, homelessness and property taxes.

Anger at Newsom, however, escalated amid the coronavirus pandemic, when some Californians criticized the governor for his reopening effort and being photographed dining at a restaurant while tight restrictions were enacted in the state and most Californians were being urged to stay home.

A number of candidates have already announced campaigns to take on Newsom, including Olympic gold medalist and reality television star Caitlyn Jenner, who is running as a Republican.

Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer (R), businessman John Cox (R) and former Rep. Doug Ose (R) are also in the race to oust Newsom.