YES on Proposition 5 – Changes Recall Election Process for Statewide Officers

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Protect Majority Rule!

What’s the Background? The California State Constitution allows voters to decide if they want to remove state officials from office before the end of their term by voting to recall the official.

To qualify a recall for the ballot, supporters need to collect signatures from the official’s district if it’s a local official – or across the state for statewide offices.
If supporters want to recall the Governor, they need to obtain signatures from 12% of voters (roughly 1.5 million people); and because it’s a statewide office, they need to get signatures in a minimum of five counties.
Election officials verify the signatures to ensure that the individuals are registered voters before a recall is placed on the ballot. It’s a complicated and expensive process.

Since 1913, only 11 recall efforts have qualified for statewide ballot, and just 6 have succeeded – removing 5 legislators and 1 Governor.

Under the existing rules, voters decide at the same time whether to (1) recall the official and (2) who should replace them. While the first question requires a majority vote to remove the elected official, the second question allows a replacement candidate to be chosen with a slim plurality. That’s because multiple candidates may file to run for the office in the recall election.

In the most recent statewide recall election, for example, 46 candidates ran to replace Gavin Newsom. Voters chose to keep Governor Newsom by nearly 62% to 38%. Yet had the recall passed, the leading replacement candidate – who drew only about 28% support – would have become Governor, even though most voters had just chosen to keep the incumbent. A candidate the majority rejected could take office with barely a quarter of the vote!

What would Proposition 5 do differently?

Proposition 5 keeps the recall itself – voters would still decide whether to remove an official. It changes only what happens after a successful recall.
Remove the replacement question (Question 2) from the recall ballot, so voters decide only whether the official should be recalled.
For the office of Governor, have Lieutenant Governor step in.
- If the Governor is recalled during the first two years of the term – before the nomination period for the next statewide election closes – the Lieutenant Governor serves until voters elect a new Governor at a future statewide election.
- If the Governor is recalled after the first two years of the term, the Lieutenant Governor serves out the remainder of the term.
Fill all other vacancies due to recall in the same manner they are currently filled (i.e., through special election or appointment).
Allow recalled officers to run again for the same office at the special election if one is held.

Myth	Facts
“Proposition 5 erodes one of the fundamental elements of our recall process: to choose who replaces the recalled politician.“	Proposition 5 protects California from electing officials with a fraction of the votes they would need in a regular election. It separates the two decisions: voters first decide whether to remove the official, and the seat is then filled through the same process used for any other vacancy – never handed to a candidate who won only a small share of the vote.
“Proposition 5 takes away my right to recall an elected official.“	NO. You still vote on whether to remove the official – that right does not change. Proposition 5 changes only how the replacement is chosen, so no one can win the office with only a small share of the vote.