Gubernatorial Recall Ballot: And Then There Were 41 (Maybe)

Faulconer’s Ballot Designation Not Set; Elder Says He’ll Be Added

Roughly half the candidates who said they were running to be the lucky winner --should Gov. Gavin Newsom be recalled-- didn’t make the final list published by Secretary of State Shirley Weber. 

That’s a lot more than I thought would be quitters. Maybe it was the prospect of having five years worth of income tax returns published for candidates who make the ballot. Maybe it is the prospect that Gov. Newsom isn’t likely to be recalled. 

Forty one candidates (or maybe forty two) is less than one third of number of people who ran in the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis.

This year’s list includes 21 Republicans, eight Democrats, one Libertarian, nine independents and two Green Party members. Ballots will start going out next month in the mail, with the official election date set for September 14.

Conservative talk show host Larry Elder did not appear on the list, suggesting problems with his paperwork. The campaign says he did meet all of the qualifications and the candidate has reassured followers that  he’ll be on the final certified list of candidates when it is released on Wednesday.

One thing we know for sure, now. No big celebrities --ala Arnold-- are running. And, no, Caitlyn Jenner doesn’t qualify as a (big enough) celeb, although she did qualify for the ballot. 

I’m thinking she might not be taking the whole thing too seriously, given that she’s off in Australia in quarantine while waiting to film a tv show. There is also speculation that her candidacy is really about getting footage for a future reality series or special. 

Caitlyn says she’ll be back in time for a bus tour prior to the official election date. I have to wonder if her campaign realizes that most people will have already voted by then.

The big surprise on the candidates who did make the cut list is that Kevin Faulconer’s ballot designation is “Under Review.” 

What? They didn’t like the term “Municipal Real Estate Mogul?” Or maybe “Hero for the Homeless” didn’t cut it after nobody would stand and testify on his behalf.

Seriously, the Secretary of State didn’t like his campaign’s suggested “Retired” Mayor descriptor.

https://twitter.com/objkshn/status/1416987826059505668?s=20

Finally --for today-- the obligatory reminder...

When your mail-in ballot arrives in mid-August, what you must do is really simple. No hard choices will be asked of you. The ballot will look impressively large, but fear not. There are two questions, and you only need to answer one.

Question #1 asks if you think Gov. Gavin Newsom should be recalled. That should be a hard NO, even if you think he's a corporate Democrat or worse.

Question #2 asks you to pick who you'd like to take his place from a long list consisting mostly of people you've never heard of and/or are losers. YOU CAN SKIP THIS ONE. 

Any questions you may have in this regard will be answered in my upcoming The Non-Official Guide on People Not to Vote for in the 2021 Recall Election, to be published later this week.

I had started with a series of articles profiling candidates under the assumption that most would appear on the ballot. Now, I’ll keep the stories accompanying them, but consolidate all the candidate information in one handy-dandy place.  

The earlier articles: 

Part One: If Republicans Know They Can’t Win, Why Have a Recall?
Part Two: A Not Too Serious Look at the Recall Candidates for California Governor
Part Three: Who Really Wants to Be Governor of California?
Part Four: Don’t Blame San Diego for the Newsom Recall
Part Five: Show Us the Money: Gavin Newsom Spends His Way Out of a Recall

Part Six: They’ve Got the Recall Blues: Dems Are Depressed, GOP Is Clueless

UPDATE: All my research on recall candidates is now in one place:

https://wordsanddeedsblog.com/a-non-official-2021-recall-election-guide-on-who-not-to-vote-for/

• Recall election key dates:

  • July 16 5pm: Candidate filing deadline

  • July 19: Randomized alphabet drawing for ballot order

  • July 21: Certified list of candidates and ballot order rotation (by county) 

  • July 31: Ballot mailing to military and overseas voters

  • August 5: First pre-election campaign finance statement

  • August 16: Ballot mailing begins to all registered voters

  • September 2: Second pre-election campaign finance statement

  • September 14: Election Day

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