A lawsuit filed against California Secretary of State Shirley Webb on August 14 stated that the state’s procedures for recalling the current governor violated the “one person, one vote” concept protected by the US Constitution.
Lawyers representing two California voters filed a lawsuit in the Western Division of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California one month before the recall election next month.
Last month, Weber’s office announced the final list of 46 candidates who are eligible to challenge the current governor of California and Democrats. Gavin Newson, To recall the election on September 14. The postal recall ballot is already being sent to voters across the state.
Voters will be asked to answer two questions about the removal of votes. The first question asked them whether they would like to remove Newsom. The second question is, if Newsom is recalled, who they hope will replace him among the 46 candidates for removal.
If more than 50% of California voters vote for the removal of Newsom, he will be replaced by the candidate with the most votes.
Newsom was not listed as the second option on the ballot because he was the official who was the target of the recall.The process of preventing Newsom from being included in the list California Constitution.
Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images
This is the process of contention in the lawsuit filed last week.according to Copy In the lawsuit obtained by Politico, the state’s rules on the removal of elections make it possible for current officials to be removed from office after obtaining more votes in favor of their retention than they would eventually be replaced.
The lawsuit states: “Although Governor Newsom may get more votes against his removal on Question 1, he can still choose to seek to replace him and obtain fewer votes as the governor.”
The lawsuit argued that this possibility violated the equal protection and due process provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
California’s recall procedure “is contrary to the federal law principle of’one person, one vote’, and grants two votes to voters who vote to remove the governor—one vote to remove the governor and one vote to choose a successor, but only if only one person votes for those who vote to keep him. He will not be removed, so the number of people who voted for it was twice as many as those who voted against it,” the lawsuit said.
“This is unconstitutional both on the surface and in application,” it continued.
In recent weeks, some legal scholars have expressed concern about the state’s recall procedures. According to politics. Two law professors University of California Berkeley Wrote a column Published by New York Times Last week, he believed that California’s removal process was unconstitutional because Newsom might get more votes in favor of his retention than the candidate who might eventually replace him.
There has been only one governor’s recall election in the history of the state. The 2003 recall election resulted in the dismissal of Democrat Gray Davis, and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced him.
In the 2003 removal, Schwarzenegger competed with more than 100 other candidates for removal, but received 48.6% of the votes.and 4,206,284 The Californians chose Schwarzenegger as their replacement governor, and the Republicans won more votes than those who wanted Davis to stay in office received 4,007,783 votes.
There will be fewer candidates for the removal of elections next month. Newsom’s campaign and California’s Democratic Party Voters are not encouraged to choose among the candidates listed in the second question of the ballot.in a Twitter August 15, California Democrats recommended that voters vote “no” on the first question, and “leave the second question blank.”
Despite the State party’s guidance, Weber’s office reminded voters that no matter how they voted for Newsom to remain in power, they can answer two questions on the recall ballot.
With less than a month to go until September 14, the lawsuit recommends stopping the recall election or adding Newsom’s name to the list of potential replacement candidates. As California voters have begun to receive mailed ballots, both proposals have become complicated.
Weekly newspaper Contact Weber’s office for comments and will update this article based on any responses.
