News

Need Help Recycling at Your Next Local Event?

HWMA maintains a stock of Clearstream and Slim Jim bins that we loan out for free to local event coordinators. We’ll even give you the bags for the Clearstream bins!

Call or email us for details: 268-8680 or info@hwma.net

Humboldt Waste Management Authority 1059 W. Hawthorne St. Eureka www.hwma.net

Build to edge of the document Margins are just a safe area

AUGUST BOOK DISCUSSION

Best Author 2021

MEEting at: Aug 31, 2021 @ 7PM PST

BOOK CLUB

INFO, SIGN-UPS AND ZOOM MEETING LINK AT:

ncjshop.com/book-club

Do You Recall?

A quick primer on next month’s election and how to cast your vote

By Byrhonda Lyons/CalMatters

newsroom@northcoastjournal.com Gubernatorial recall efforts are common in California — every governor since 1960 has faced at least one — but have only proven successful once. Credit

To keep Gov. Gavin Newsom or not to keep Gov. Newsom? That is the question.

Upset by the progressive governor’s policies, his handling of the pandemic and his infamous maskless dinner at the French Laundry, about 12 percent of the number of Californians who voted in the last election for governor signed petitions to force a recall election.

Newsom, who served as the mayor of San Francisco from 2004 through 2011 before becoming lieutenant governor in 2011, beat a wide swath of Democrat candidates in the 2018 primary before being elected governor with 62 percent of the vote over Republican candidate John Cox, who is once again seeking the o ce.

Newsom took o ce in 2019 with an approval rating of 43 percent, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and the number has since risen. In January of 2020, before the pandemic hit California, Newsom was polling at 49 percent, according to the PPIC, and his approval rating twice surpassed 60 percent after COVID-19 struck the state. In January of this year, the PPIC poll had 52 percent of California voters approving of the governor’s job performance.

But recall e orts are commonplace, if unsuccessful, in California politics — with every governor in the state since 1960 facing at least one, but only the 2003 push to oust Gov. Gray Davis succeeded. Newsom himself faced fi ve unsuccessful recall petition e orts before a sixth pushed by the California Patriot Coalition caught on amid pandemic lockdowns of schools and businesses in 2020, ultimately gathering the signatures of more than 1.7 million voters.

Now, on Sept. 14, registered voters will decide if the governor holds onto his job or not.

All active registered voters in California get their ballots in the mail about a month before the election.

The Newsom recall vote is a two-fer, asking voters:

Should Newsom be removed?

Who should replace him? If you want Newsom to stay in o ce.

If you want to remove Newsom, vote yes.

Either way, you can vote for a candidate on the second question, or skip it.

If more than half of voters opt to replace Newsom, whoever has the most votes among the replacement candidates will be sworn in as the new governor in late October — even if that person doesn’t get a majority, and even if that person gets fewer votes than those cast for Newsom on Question No. 1.

You can write in a name, but it will be counted only if it’s someone who fi led by Aug. 31 to appear on the certifi ed write-in list.

So who’s running?

It’s a long list of 46 people, including some Trump-supporting Republicans and a few Democrats who have never held elected o ce. There are also celebrities, professors, a rapper and a pastor. Here are the top candidates: • Larry Elder, a Republican talk-show host from South Central Los Angeles • John Cox, a Republican businessman who lost to Newsom in 2018 • Kevin Faulconer, the Republican former mayor of San Diego • Kevin Kiley, Republican assemblymember from Rocklin • Caitlyn Jenner, Republican, Olympian turned reality-television star • Kevin Pa rath, a Democrat YouTube star and real estate broker and investor from Ventura

If Newsom were to be replaced, you could expect to vote again, soon. The regular election for governor is in 2022. Although theoretically, Democrats could begin the process to recall Newsom’s replacement long before that.

As Shakespeare perhaps prophesied: Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more? ●

Journal news editor Thadeus Greenson contributed to this report.

This article was originally published by CalMatters.