California Democrats moved Monday to change the rules governing recall elections, potentially hampering the campaign to remove a Democratic state senator from office. Under the proposal, people who sign a recall petition would have 30 days to rescind their signatures after they have been submitted to election officials. It would also give lawmakers an additional 30 days to weigh in on how much a recall election would cost. It was introduced Monday as part of a budget bill in an effort to protect Democratic Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton, who is facing a recall effort over his vote to increase the gas tax. Democrats will lose their supermajority in the Senate if Newman is recalled.
Democrats say the changes are needed because the campaign to recall Newman has misled voters when gathering their signatures. Backers of the effort must collect more than 60,000 signatures to trigger a recall election. The leader of the recall effort calls the charges false.
“You want to recall me, that’s fine,” Newman said. “But do it fair and square.”
The recall organizers are misleading people to believe signing the petition will reverse the gas tax, Newman said. If a special election to recall Newman occurs, the gas tax would not be on the ballot. Voters should be able to withdraw their signatures once they’ve been submitted to election officials, Newman said.
Full Article: California Democrats push to change recall election rules.