The Antelope Valley Times

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Judge refuses to halt recall election

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Gov. Gavin Newsom [Image via Twitter]
 A Los Angeles federal judge Friday denied a bid to have the gubernatorial recall election called off or the ballot drastically changed before the Sept. 14 deadline to cast votes.

The lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs Rex Julian Beaber and A.W. Clark seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the recall election or — falling short of that — to add Gov. Gavin Newsom to the ballot as a candidate.

The suit argues that the state’s recall provision violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by allowing sitting governors to be replaced by candidates who have received fewer votes. Over 1 million ballots have been received by election officials.

In denying the motion to halt the election, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald wrote that there is “nothing unconstitutional about placing in one ballot a vote for or against the recall of the governor and then a vote for a replacement candidate.”

Newsom is not a party to the lawsuit, which names Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who is conducting the recall election, as the sole defendant.

Fitzgerald, appointed to the federal bench by then-President Barack Obama, pointed out that the suit’s late filing date of Aug. 13 means that the plaintiff — Beaber was voluntarily dismissed from the suit — seeks “to halt an election that, in fact, has already begun, which is a strong indicator that equitable factors are not present here. Finally, decisions of the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit strongly indicate that an injunction should not issue.”

Clark argues in the suit that he, as a supporter of Newsom, only gets to vote once — a “no” vote on the question of whether there should be a recall election. Opponents of the governor, on the other hand, get to vote twice, first by voting in favor of the recall and then by voting for one of the replacement candidates, the plaintiff argues.

In his ruling, Fitzgerald wrote that “as a matter of logic and common sense, it simply is not true that plaintiff only gets to vote once while others get to vote twice. Plaintiff and all California voters have the opportunity to vote two distinct issues” — whether the governor should be recalled and for a replacement candidate.

The judge states that the plaintiff appears “disgruntled” that a replacement candidate with a small plurality might replace a sitting governor who, based on a robust “no” vote, might well have beaten that same replacement candidate in a general election.

“As that may be, such disgruntlement raises no federal constitutional issues and certainly does not give the federal judiciary the right to halt the mammoth undertaking of this gubernatorial recall election,” Fitzgerald wrote.

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20 comments for "Judge refuses to halt recall election"

  1. Bernie (the communist) Sanders just endorsed Gavin NewScum. So it’s a battle of heavyweight endorsements…..me against uncle Bernie.

    Vote for Larry Elder, a patriotic American.

  2. As I understand it, Newsom could have stepped up in court when the petitioners were short on signatures by their original deadline and they filed for their extension. I guess he didn’t want to lend “credibility” to the effort by actually fighting it in court. Well, surprise! They got their extension and subsequently they got enough signatures. I believe the time for him to fight this in court has passed.

    • There were extensions needed, and granted, for a whole lot of things due to complications caused by the pandemic. I don’t really think anyone was surprised that the signatures came in. The threshold established in the state constitution is too low for modern times.

      The GOP in California has been “purified” down to the core of crackpots, and that means that basically thirty percent of the population would vote for “execute every Californian so long as the Democrats die first.” They don’t want a governor, and they don’t care about even their own benefit…they are just a death cult and will undoubtedly start a new recall petition as soon as this one is resolved in hopes of destroying our state, even if it is also theirs.

  3. Here’s an interesting question…

    If some unqualified conservative crackpot gets into the governor’s office riding on the votes of maybe 20-25% of the electorate, how fast can the signatures be gathered to recall him? When 75-80% of the electorate never voted for them in the first place I suspect that would go really really fast.

    • The biggest crackpot of them all is Tim Scott…a lurking nattering nabob of negativism…

      • Neither helpful nor funny, and also not new. The local troll farm is recycling old posts. Say hi to Hornblower for me “LoCleeto”.

        • @timscott it was helpful and funny , you literally called someone a troll when you are in fact the biggest troll. Typical liberal behavior. Btw the Latinos in so cal are Turing on your boy so I would say he’s toast. Unless we keep reading stories about methheads getting pulled over with thousands of ballots in their vehicles. Also thought it was interesting that people who are not citizens are receiving ballots. Heard this from a friend who is not a citizen from their own mouth. Let me guess Tim , this undocumented citizen must be part of the GOP.

          • And another nameplate is slapped on the same old same old talking points. How obvious can a troll farm be, really? Is there ANYONE that doesn’t recognize this for what it is, seriously? I mean, I know that Sonya and BeeCee agree in a general way, but surely even you two understand what this is, right?

    • I think it is a matter of endurance. The electorate will eventually grow tired and apathetic (if it hasn’t already). I think the GOP is banking on it, actually. They are hoping the voters will just give up. I would be very surprised if a recall petition was able to get off the ground so soon.

      • This is accurate. The GOP pushed this recall election not with any real anticipation of winning. It’s an attempt to produce “election fatigue” and drive down turnout in the midterms.

        If you look at the traditionally republican districts in California that “the Trump effect” flipped to the democrats in 2018 ours is the only one they managed to retake in 2020. That is probably related to the abnormally high turnout, which is again a Trump effect. If we get apathetic or fatigued and don’t turn out in 2022 it could give the GOP the opportunity to retake the house and once again grind the country to a halt.

    • The recall provision is the problem.

      But, since it’s what we’ve got, let’s recall Elder if he’s elected. It should be just as easy.

      In fact, let’s get started.

      • Can’t start until he gets elected, and the odds are very very good that that will never happen.

      • @billy I thought Tim was the least smart liberal in the room. You have been crowned new champion. Gavin is out and there’s nothing you can do about it. The Latino vote will save that state from more old rich white people like Gavin and his great gram gram Nancy using that state as their personal retirement accounts. Maybe you should just admit he went to the nicest restaurant in the world with no mask or social distancing , same goes for his gam gam. They are hypocrites and should be ousted. As liberals and social justice warriors you would think that you would want them out. But no you would rather defend their hypocritical behavior. Maybe you protecting them speaks more about you than them.

        • I seriously hope Latino voters recognize this for the crock that it is. This clown wants you to just “follow the herd” that doesn’t even exist, on some racist “oust the white people” crusade. On short, he thinks you are stupid and racist.

          Just so the state gets a Republican governor.

          A Republican governor who will do Republican things, like…

          Make it harder to vote, unless you are out in the great Republican boondocks…the voting restrictions won’t impact out there, so the GOP is like herpes, you let them get power they cheat to keep it and you can never get rid of them.

          Whiplash back and forth between “local control” for school districts, or passing state level mandated demands on school districts, depending on which way the winds that support their dream of joining national politics blow. Greg Abbott doesn’t care about school districts or school kids in Texas, all he cares about is his national profile with the RNC.

          Provide a paradise for the wealthy by providing misery for workers. “Move your company to Florida, no state taxes.” Also no threat of labor costs or regulations. If they don’t like starvation wages, just fire them and see how they like that in a state with no support for the unemployed. Workplace safety? Well, the boss isn’t on the job site so who cares? This is Florida baby!!! Workers that don’t wanna die can just starve instead I guess.

          Health care? Well, for the wealthy, sure. We run a competitive system in the GOP states. If some worker’s kid needs their appendix out, and some rich guy’s wife needs a face lift…well, who has the better insurance? That’s competition baby! It’s the American way!!! If your kid dies, you shoulda been richer, obviously.

          Roads? We get help from the feds. No state taxes, remember? So if it’s not an interstate, it’s a wreck. Get used to it, or buy yourself an estate next to the governor’s ranch and help pave the private road. Oh, working stiff? Can’t afford a thousand acres? That’s your fault, so suffer. And make sure you keep working, because once that private road is in the state will be maintaining it and we need to collect those payroll taxes that we never talk about when we are saying “no state income tax.”

          Every state the GOP has sway over is a wreck. DO NOT LET THEM HIJACK OURS with this plain and simple power grab. They know they will never hold it, so their objective will be to do as much damage as they can as fast as they can.

    • Old photo. I’d assume right about now he’s pretty happy and ready to party. With Elder getting torpedoed the odds against the recall, which were already favorable, have spoked in his favor.

      Reservations at the French Laundry?

      • “Reservations at the French Laundry?” Oooh, that’s cold. I like it. That’s what I would do if I were NewScum and I won.

    • Do you think he regrets inviting all the world’s homeless to CA for “a new beginning” on the taxpayers’ backs?