Christian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
Next September 14, 2021, a referendum will be held in California that aims to revoke the mandate of the current governor Gavin Newsom who has been in office since 2019.
In 2003, the state held its third referendum to recall Gray Davis and elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, so the Sept. 14 election represents a fourth effort to recall California's governor.
It should be noted that California is one of 19 states in the U.S. that can allow recall elections; to promote such elections, 1,495,709 signatures were required, or 12 percent of the total votes cast in the immediately preceding gubernatorial election.
Because the number of signatures were gathered in the time frame of April 26, 2021, Secretary of State Shirley Weber is required to schedule such a recall election within the next 60 to 80 days. In the event Newsom is recalled as governor of the state of California, one of 46 registered candidates must be chosen to replace him.
For this reason, Ethnic Media Services held a briefing with California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who detailed the details of the process that will take place on September 14.
The California secretary of state opened her participation by saying that "not voting is a negative act that ends up weakening the democracy achieved in the country," which is why she stressed the importance of electing their leaders.
Weber explained that the ballots will contain two unique questions, "Do you want the governor removed?" -- in this case, Gavin Newsom -- and "Who do you want to replace the governor?" The secretary of state noted that the first question will have only two options and only one must be chosen: "yes" or "no." In the second question, you must choose from among the 46 candidates registered for this election in which the current governor Gavin Newsom will not be eligible. The second question will be relevant, Weber said, if "yes" gets 50 percent plus one vote.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber urged citizens to verify their information to participate in this recall election in three steps: check, register and vote; first, verify your voting status at https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/, as ballots will begin to be mailed out on August 16. On the website, you will need to update your information "as soon as possible. August 30 is the last day to register for easy voting at https://registertovote.ca.gov/. If you miss this step, you will be able to register on the same day as the recall election process, September 14, 2021.
Weber noted that all voters will receive a ballot via mail, which must be cast by September 14, 2021 via prepaid mail or in person at secure mailboxes, early voting sites.
"Voting by mail is secure," Shirley Weber said. Not only will the process of mailing and receiving the ballots be secure, she said, but each ballot will have unique watermarks, the ballots will be produced by California-certified printers, the return envelopes will have unique bar codes that will be scanned to ensure there are no duplicate votes, and finally, the voter's signature will be checked.
To know the status of the ballot in real time, the voter will be able to track it on the site: https://wheresmyballot.sos.ca.gov/ and you can get information via SMS text message, voice call or email.
On Election Day, September 14, 2021, polling places will be open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. It will be until Oct. 22 when the California secretary of state will issue a certificate to the candidate-elect if the election resulted in the recall of the current governor. This process, Weber said, does not change the subsequent election processes and they are scheduled in a timely manner.
People can send their doubts and comments regarding these elections to the following email address: votesure@sos.ca.gov
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said $70 million will be spent to publicize the process to the entire voting population.
"We hope the people will go out and vote on Sept. 14," Weber said. "The implications on who our next governor will be and, more importantly, the political environment of California, is in our hands."
