Numbers: We went to the California Secretary of State's
website to see how many people
voted [PDF] in 2002 for governor, in order to compare that figure with the
number who signed the petition to recall Gray Davis. (Note to egomaniacs: you can get listed with only 6 write-in votes, so in the next election, convince your friends to do you a favor and you'll be in the history books.) Here are the results:
| Gray Davis, DEM | 3,533,490 | 47.30% |
| Bill Simon, REP | 3,169,801 | 42.40% |
| Reinhold Gulke, AI | 128,035 | 1.70% |
| Peter Miguel Camejo, GRN | 393,036 | 5.30% |
| Gary David Copeland, LIB | 161,203 | 2.20% |
| Iris Adam, NL | 88,415 | 1.10% |
| Anselmo A. Chavez (w/i) | 37 | 0.00% |
| Will B. King (w/i) | 13 | 0.00% |
| James F. Stewart (w/i) | 327 | 0.00% |
| Nick Jesson (w/i) | 46 | 0.00% |
| Rob Marinko (w/i) | 1,789 | 0.00% |
| Debbie Jo Terzoli (w/i) | 30 | 0.00% |
| F. Nan Bailey (w/i) | 28 | 0.00% |
| Jim Mallon (w/i) | 55 | 0.00% |
| Nick Hoogoian (w/i) | 6 | 0.00% |
| Votes Not Cast | 262,470 | 3.39% |
| TOTAL | 7,738,781 | |
| | | |
| Davis recall signatures | 1,300,000 | |
| % of 2002 gubernatorial vote | | 17.00% |
17%, or about one in six. Is that a large enough fraction? Not if the signatures came from the losing party (which got 43% in 2002). Yes, if they came from the winning party.
It would seem to us that in cases of recall
for political reasons only (i.e. no malfeasance), it might be reasonable to require that the recall be initiated, and signatures gathered, by the party of the sitting governor.
TECHNICAL NOTE: Only 897,158 signatures are required by law, or 11% of the number who voted in 2002.
posted by Quiddity at 7/24/2003 09:35:00 AM 
