FindLaw | Legal News & Information

• Why the Eleven-Judge Ninth Circuit Panel Should Affirm The Original Panel Decision to Postpone the California Recall by Neal Kumar Katyal (Sep. 22, 2003)
  
  
• The Ruling Postponing the California Recall Election: Why It Is Questionable, and Why It Was Not Compelled by Bush v. Gore by Vikram David Amar (Sep. 19, 2003)
  
  
• The Federal Appellate Decision Delaying the Recall: Bush v. Gore's Tragedy Repeats Itself as California's Farce by Edward Lazarus (Sep. 18, 2003)
  
  
• California's "Racial Privacy Initiative": Will It Be Struck Down On the Ground That It Violates Academic Freedom Protected By the First Amendment? by Vikram David Amar (Sep. 5, 2003)
  
  
• A Mixed Verdict on the California Supreme Court's Decision: Part Three of a Series on the Recall by Vikram David Amar and Alan E. Brownstein (Aug. 22, 2003)
  
  
• The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: The Low Lows and High Highs of the California Recall by Edward Lazarus (Aug. 21, 2003)
  
  
• Why California's Proposed Racial Privacy Initiative Is Not Only Unwise, But Also Unconstitutional And Potentially Fiscally Damaging for the State by Erwin Chemerinsky (Aug. 21, 2003)
  
  
• Why Federal Law May Keep the Terminator off the Air Until After California's Recall Election: A Primer by Michael C. Dorf (Aug. 20, 2003)
  
  
• Why the Bid to Recall Governor Gray Davis Is the Wrong Response to California's Budget Crisis by Barton Aronson (Aug. 20, 2003)
  
  
• Numerous Suits Challenging Vote Indicate State's Recall Laws Are In Chaotic Mess by Richard L. Hasen (Los Angeles Daily Journal, Aug. 18, 2003)
  
  
• Governor Davis's Claim to Run as His Own Successor Is Meritless, But the Fear of a "Fringe" Winner Is Serious: How the Risk Can Be Eliminated in the Future by Vikram David Amar (Aug. 8, 2003)
  
  
• Why An Important Part of the California Recall Process Is Unconstitutional, According to U.S. Supreme Court Precedent by Vikram David Amar and Alan E. Brownstein (July 25, 2003)
  
  
• The California Gubernatorial Recall Debate and the Courts: Why Litigation Has Begun (and Likely Will Continue) by Richard L. Hasen (July 22, 2003)

   

• Official Website of the California Governor
• Governor Gray Davis's Campaign Committee

• Elections & Voter Information
• October 7, 2003, Statewide Special Election Information
• Voter Registration
• Gubernatorial Candidate Status Report

• Professor Rick Hasen's web log (blog)

• Californians Against the Costly Recall (Anti-Recall)
• DavisRecall.com (Pro-Recall)
• Overview of Recall Efforts From UC Berkeley
• Recall Watch: Background, Information on Recall Effort
• Rescue California (Pro-Recall)
• Stop the Recall (Anti-Recall)

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION

SECTION 13. Recall is the power of the electors to remove an elective officer.

SECTION 14. (a) Recall of a state officer is initiated by delivering to the Secretary of State a petition alleging reason for recall. Sufficiency of reason is not reviewable. Proponents have 160 days to file signed petitions.

(b) A petition to recall a statewide officer must be signed by electors equal in number to 12 percent of the last vote for the office, with signatures from each of 5 counties equal in number to 1 percent of the last vote for the office in the county. Signatures to recall Senators, members of the Assembly, members of the Board of Equalization, and judges of courts of appeal and trial courts must equal in number 20 percent of the last vote for the office.

(c) The Secretary of State shall maintain a continuous count of the signatures certified to that office.

SECTION 15. (a) An election to determine whether to recall an officer and, if appropriate, to elect a successor shall be called by the Governor and held not less than 60 days nor more than 80 days from the date of certification of sufficient signatures.

(b) A recall election may be conducted within 180 days from the date of certification of sufficient signatures in order that the election may be consolidated with the next regularly scheduled election occurring wholly or partially within the same jurisdiction in which the recall election is held, if the number of voters eligible to vote at that next regularly scheduled election equal at least 50 percent of all the voters eligible to vote at the recall election.

(c) If the majority vote on the question is to recall, the officer is removed and, if there is a candidate, the candidate who receives a plurality is the successor. The officer may not be a candidate, nor shall there be any candidacy for an office filled pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 16 of Article VI.

SECTION 16. The Legislature shall provide for circulation, filing, and certification of petitions, nomination of candidates, and the recall election.

SECTION 17. If recall of the Governor or Secretary of State is initiated, the recall duties of that office shall be performed by the Lieutenant Governor or Controller, respectively.

SECTION 18. A state officer who is not recalled shall be reimbursed by the State for the officer's recall election expenses legally and personally incurred. Another recall may not be initiated against the officer until six months after the election.

CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS CODE