The Rally+Rise 2021 California Recall Voter Guide

Forget the 2020 election; for the most populous state in the country, the most important election is one that wasn’t even slatted to happen at the start of this year: It’s the gubernatorial recall.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Californians are being called to the polls to decide whether their current governor—that would be Democrat Gavin Newsom—should keep his job through his elected term.

If he loses, one of the 46 (yes, really) universally terrible challengers—think anti-maskers and climate change deniers—will replace him. And the even worse news: The latest polling does not look good for Newsom. (The New York Times just described it as a “dead heat” :(

Newsom might not be perfect, but he’s far better than any of the 46 candidates (again: yes, really) vying to unseat him, so it’s crucial that Californians come out in what is traditionally a low turnout election to vote “NO” on the recall.

Here’s what you need to know about the California recall election—how to vote, who to vote for, and easy actions you can take to help others do the same:

What are the important dates?

August 16 is the deadline for counties to send mail-in ballots to all registered voters. (That’s right: This election, you don’t need to request a mail-in ballot, it’ll be sent to you automatically!)

August 17 is when ballot drop boxes open up at select locations across the state. (They’ll remain open through September 14.)

August 30 is the deadline to register to vote online and get a ballot in the mail. (After this date, you can “conditionally” register and vote at your polling place or your county elections office through election day—which means that your vote will be counted only after the BOE has verified your registration.)

September 4 is when early in-person voting begins.

September 14 is election day (polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.) and the deadline to postmark your mail-in ballot.

Where do I vote?

If you’re voting by mail you can mail it in or bring it to a ballot drop-off location—the deadline is September 14, but if you want your ballot to be included with the initial election night count, get it in ASAP. (And yes, you can track your ballot!)

If you’re voting in-person early you can find your early voting location here.

If you’re voting in-person on election day you can find your poll site here.

I’m not sure I’m eligible to vote in California…

In California, anyone who lives in the state, is a US citizen, and will be18 or older by September 14 is eligible to vote in the gubernatorial recall election.

Check your registration status here.

Register to vote here. (You can do so online through August 30; after that date, you can register at your poll site or your local Board of Elections office through election day on September 14.)

How should I vote?

There are two questions on the recall ballot:

1) Should Governor Gavin Newsom be recalled?

Just vote “NO” here—more on this in a sec, but this is the crucial recall question. It’s listed right below the instructions on the ballot, so make sure you don’t miss it.

2) Which candidate should replace him?

You can vote “NO” on Question 1 and still cast a vote for someone in Question 2. That said, you are not required to answer Question 2—and many orgs we trust on issues around the recall (like Vote Save America) are urging people to leave this section blank.

And while you do have the option of writing in a candidate here, any write-in votes for Gavin Newsom will not be counted. So, again: If you don’t want to see Governor Newsom replaced by a Republican, the most important thing to do is vote “NO” on Question 1!

What is a recall election, exactly?

In California, voters can remove state officials before the end of their term. (It’s one of 19 states that allows recalls.) All it takes is getting enough voter signatures—12% of voters in the last election, to be precise—and a recall election can happen.

From there, it’s pretty straightforward: If more than 50% of voters vote “YES” on the recall, the official in office is toast—and then, among the candidates running to replace them, whoever gets the most votes wins…even if they received fewer votes than the number of people who voted to not recall the governor. (Bonkers, right?)

It’s admittedly a bit confusing; CalMatters has a good recall explainer, if you want to go deeper.

What’s this recall for?

Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who won resoundingly in 2018 with nearly 62% of the vote in a high-turnout election, is on the chopping block. Republicans claim it’s because of how he’s handled Covid, but they were already plotting a recall before then. (This is the sixth attempt to recall Newsom—the first attempt began just three months after his inauguration in 2019.)

So yeah, it’s 100% politically motivated. (If you need more proof, look at who is bankrolling this recall election… it’s major GOP donor after major GOP donor, and there’s no limit to how much $$$ they can spend.)

If Newsom’s recalled, who becomes governor?

One of the 46 (still can’t believe this number is real) candidates on the recall ballot would replace him. That list is mostly comprised of Republicans with generally awful positions; the leading Democrat is Kevin Paffrath, a 29-year-old YouTube real estate dude. [Insert face palm emoji]

This all sounds straightforward, so why are people freaking out?

In theory, a recall is a powerful tool of democracy, giving people the opportunity to oust elected officials who aren’t following through on their promises. (Or are just acting really, really egregiously.)

But in practice, in California the recall has become a tool used by Republicans to actually overthrow the will of the people. Remember: You only need 12% of voters to sign a petition to make a recall happen, so the process is forced of a very vocal (and well-funded) minority.

That’s not all: The recall election itself doesn’t pit the incumbent against the top challenger—so Gavin Newsom could be replaced by someone who receives faaaaar fewer votes than him.

How’s that possible? There are two questions on the ballot—and on Question 1, Newsom must receive more than 50% of the vote in order to hold onto his seat, but on Question 2 the challengers don’t need to hit that same threshold; to replace Newsom, you only need to get a plurality of the Question 2 votes. That means Newsom could receive 49.9% of the vote, and still be replaced by someone who received, say, 15% of the vote. (There’s a reason why law scholars have called out that CA recall process as unconstitutional….)

And with off-cycle elections like these, they’re usually low-turnout affairs where the only people showing up are the mad ones—you know, the QAnon, anti-mask, right-wing voters who show up screaming at school board meetings.

Even more concerning: While Newsom has a 57% approval rating and a recent poll found that 70% of Democrats in the state expect him to defeat the recall, 538’s polling average has only 48.8% of voters wanting to keep him in office! In other words: There’s a big chance that enough Democrats in the state will sit this election out, thinking there’s no way he’d be recalled, that he actually does get recalled. Hello, 2016 redux.

I just threw up a bit in my mouth. What can I do?

First of all: Make sure you vote—and make sure you vote “NO” on Question 1. The good news is that it’s never been easier to vote in a recall election, since all registered voters in California were sent a vote-by-mail ballot. (Don’t want to vote by mail? There will be an early voting period, plus election day itself.)

Second of all: Make sure all of your friends get out and vote. Call them. Text them. DM them. Pick them up and drive them to their poll location if you need to. This recall is all about numbers, and if enough people turnout it will be impossible for Republicans to be successful.

If you’ve already done that and are still freaking out, there are loads of volunteer opportunities throughout the state—from phonebanks to neighborhood walks to letter-writing campaigns to textbanking pushes.

TBH I don’t really like Gavin Newsom, so why should I vote against the recall?

Newsom is a far from perfect governor, and has not followed through on some of the promises that helped him easily win the governorship back in 2018. But every. single. other. candidate running to replace him in the recall sucks. Period.

And because of the way recalls are structured in California, a fringe Republican candidate who receives far less than 50% of the vote could be empowered to run the most populous state in the country… controlling everything from the basics (think mask mandates) to responsibilities that actually impact everyone in this country (like being able to appoint the state’s Senator if something were to happen to, say, 88-year-old Dianne Feinstein.)

Newsom is officially up for re-election next year, so if you’re unhappy with him, vote against him in the 2022 Democratic primary and help get a more progressive candidate elected—but in the meantime, vote “NO” on the recall so that we can do this democratically, rather than allowing a fringe minority to make decisions for California’s 39.7 million residents. (DSA LA had more to say about this, in case you wanted to check out their statement on the recall election.)