Cha-ching!
I think that the best solution is as follows:
If the recall passes, the LtGov takes control until a new election. The new election is the top two vote getters in the second part of the recall. If one of the vote getters gets more than 50% in the original recall, they take control and there isn’t a second election.
Elder got such an big share of he vote because a large number of people who voted NO skipped the second part.
Sorry, I don’t think that’s even a particularly good solution, let alone the best.
I think earlier posters on this subject have the right idea: limit the possibility of recall of any statewide elective office to conditions where the incumbent has done something that legally disqualifies them from holding that office*, and those things should be clearly defined in the statute, if not in the state constitution (preferable but probably harder to pass). Recall should not be a political tool, and limiting recall in this way is the only way to do it.
*My wording here is not intended to be definitive, I leave that to legal experts, but I think the intent is clear enough.
Any solution should also address the ease with which a proposition can be put on the ballot in California. Right now there are consultants who can tell you exactly how much it will cost you to collect enough signatures to get almost anything on the ballot including a recall. With enough money you can get a proposition mandating the demolition of the Golden Gate Bridge. Just name it the Safe Navigation Proposition and have signature collectors ask people if they support the removal of nautical obstacles in San Francisco Bay.
For that matter, it’s high time the state took action against the terrible scourge of dihydrogen monoxide!: Dihydrogen monoxide parody - Wikipedia
Given the horrendous flooding in the East and the South, that no longer brings the chuckles it once did.
I don’t see the point in having the side-show side election at all. Just have the lieutenant governor replace the governor just like in cases of death, incapacity, or resignation.
As noted upthread, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor may be of different parties in California, creating a perverse incentive for the opposition party to have its LG take office through a recall forceout of the Governor, if that was how the law read.
The LA Times has a cool map of how different precincts voted. Teal means more yes on the recall votes; mustatd means more nos. Huntington Beach, our little slice of Trump Country, is unsurprisingly blue-gray, as is Beverly Hills and some other obscenely wealthy neighborhoods, while much of LA/Orange County is mellow yellow. But then there’s this weird bright teal spot right where Universal Studios is. I clicked on it, and it turns out there was just one vote from that precinct–a yes, obviously. Kinda funny.
This almost never happens, and if it did, so what? The Lieutenant Governor is who the voters have decided should replace the Governor in his absence.
I moused around and found multiple precincts on the map with 100% of the votes for “yes” and it was just one person. Newport Beach and LA had one, and Costa Mesa actually has 2 different districts doing that. There are probably more but then I got bored looking.
Agreeing with Elmer. The Lt Gov got at least 50%+1 of the vote. The current law allows someone to become governor with basically no support at all:
49% vote “no” and don’t select a replacement (which is what the Democrats were urging (except they wanted 51%, of course)).
50 people on the replacement ballot, so someone could not inconceivably “win” with 20% of the people who selected a replacement. So, welcome Governor 10% (and if only 40% of the eligible voters bother to vote, then (assuming I didn’t screw up the math) Governor 4% (40 people * 51% voting for a replacement * 20% voting for the winner)).
If ranked choice voting has a place anywhere in our election system it would seem that the California recall election is where it would be. Drop the “should the governor be recalled?” question and just have the current office holder, lieutenant governor, bill board diva, and right wing kook all on the ballot together along with everyone else. If some people don’t like the governor because he is too liberal and others because he’s not liberal enough, but he’s everyone’s second choice, then just stick with him.
So someone lives at Universal Studios?
I bet it’s Norman Bates’s mother. She’d definitely vote to recall the Democratic governor.
…Assuming the Psycho house is still on the property; it was there the last time I visited but that was years ago.
How the failed recall could help Newsom as he heads into his reelection campaign:
The terrible scourge of dihydrogen monoxide is largely a non-issue in California lately, as there is so little of it to be found here anymore.
Another victory for the Democrats! And yet, all anyone does is whine: my lawn! my crops! I’m thirsty!