WHY IS THERE GOING TO BE A RECALL ELECTION?
Pursuant to Section 11020 of the California Election Code, a qualifying number of registered California Voters signed a recall petition to seek the recall of the governor and elect a successor to that office.
According to the Petition: -- "The grounds for recall are as follows: Gross mismanagement of California Finances by overspending taxpayers’ money, threatening public safety by cutting funds to local governments, failing to account for the exorbitant cost of the energy fiasco, and failing in general to deal with the state’s major problems until they get to the crisis stage. California should not have to be known as the state with poor schools, traffic jams, outrageous utility bills, and huge debts...all caused by gross mismanagement."
WHEN WILL THE RECALL ELECTION BE HELD?
The election will be held Oct. 7. It has to be 60 to 80 days from certification.
WHAT WERE THE CRITERIA FOR QUALIFIED CANDIDATES?
Individuals were required to declare candidacies at least 59 days before the election. To get on the ballot, a candidate needed to file 65 signatures from registered voters and pay $3,500, or file 10,000 signatures instead of filing fee.
WILL WRITE-IN CANDIDATES BE ALLOWED?
Yes. A candidate may run as a write-in by filing in the county of residence by September 23.
WILL GOVERNOR DAVIS BE A CANDIDATE ON THE BALLOT?
No. California law specifies that the governor's name cannot be listed on the "replacement candidate" portion of the recall ballot.
HOW MANY INITIATIVE SIGNATURES WERE GATHERED TO QUALIFY THE RECALL?
The Secretary of State's office has certified that 1.6 million California voters signed the petition to recall Governor Davis.
WHO IS ELIGABLE TO VOTE IN THIS CALIFORNIA SPECIAL ELECTION?
All California registered voters will be eligible to vote in the recall election. - Although there was some initial wishy-washiness concerning whether or not only those who voted in the previous general election would be eligible to vote in this special election .. the final decision has been made. - More specifically, you may register to vote if you meet the following criteria:
You are a United States citizen
You are a resident of California
You are at least 18 years of age (or will be by the date of the next election)
You are not in prison or on parole for conviction of a felony
You have not been judged by a court to be mentally incompetent to register and vote
HOW MUCH WILL THE RECALL ELECTION COST?
Although estimates vary .. (not surprisingly, estimates are related to the political ideology of the source) .. For the sake of optimism, the lowest reasonable estimated cost to the tax payers of California is $30 million to $35 million. - The bulk of cost to be born by California's 58 counties. - This cost estimate does not include expenses incurred by individual candidates and their contributors in the "marketing" of their platforms and agendas. - (according to the website RescueCalifornia .. "It is estimated that the State of California's deficit grows by 30 million dollars per day.")
WHAT QUESTIONS WILL BE ON THE RECALL BALLOT?
Secretary of state's office has said ballot would have two parts: Voters would answer yes or no on recalling Davis, then choose from list of potential successors. If recall succeeds, candidate with most signatures would replace Davis. Bustamante has recently thrown that scenario into question by refusing to say whether he would set a replacement election for the same ballot as a recall election.
WHAT OTHER MEASURES WILL BE ON THE BALLOT?
The recall ballot will include a racial privacy initiative, which would ban government agencies and schools in the state from collecting most kinds of racial and ethnic information; and a proposed constitutional amendment to dedicate an increasing portion of the state's budget to infrastructure spending. Those measures have already qualified for the ballot in California and will appear on the recall ballot because it is the next statewide election.
WHAT ORDER WILL CANDIDATES BE LISTED ON THE BALLOT?
Position on ballot: Based on luck of the draw -- With over 100 candidates running in California's Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election, their positions on the ballot are important. - Voters will first be asked if they want to recall Gov. Gray Davis. If more than 50 percent of the votes are yes, Davis will be recalled. -- The second part of the ballot contains the list of candidates, listed alphabetically with the following reassembled alphabet:
RWQOJMVAHBSGZXNTCIEKUPDYFL
The first letter drawn will go at the top of the list on the ballot. -- As for the candidates with the same beginning letter for their last name, the order is again determined by the reassembled alphabet for the second letter.
Candidates whose last names begin with the letter "R" will appear at the top of the ballot in the first Assembly district in northwest California. The candidate who got top billing in that district will move to the bottom of the ballot in the next assembly district and so on in each of the state's 80 districts.
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR GRAY DAVIS TO SURVIVE THE RECALL?
Yes. If a simple majority of voters vote against the recall on the first portion of the ballot, Governor Davis will remain in office. - Considering the anti-recall "campaign" underway by the Davis camp .. and the daily news concerning the skeletons on the closets of various "serious candidates" .. the odds makers in Vegas are losing hair over the possibility.
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