The “Recall DA George Gascon” campaign said Wednesday it had crossed the required signatures threshold to place the recall of the Los Angeles County district attorney on the November general election ballot.
“The campaign to recall LA DA @GeorgeGascon tells me they hit the necessary 567,000 signatures today, and have received 30,000+ signatures in the last few days alone,” Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin tweeted.
“They need 566,857 *verified* by July 6th, and are aiming for 650k + by then for ‘padding,’” he said.
The campaign tells me some of the signatures will inevitably be thrown out, which is why they want to build as much padding or “cushion” as possible before the deadline.
They believe 650-700k would lock it in to qualify.
“We are within striking distance of Gascon,” they tell me.— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 15, 2022
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Melugin added, “The campaign tells me some of the signatures will inevitably be thrown out, which is why they want to build as much padding or ‘cushion’ as possible before the deadline. They believe 650-700k would lock it in to qualify.”
“‘We are within striking distance of Gascon,’ they tell me,” he wrote.
Los Angeles County requires 10 percent of registered voters to sign a recall petition in order for it to be placed on the ballot.
Officials will review the signatures gathered to confirm the people are registered and eligible to vote in the county.
Should George Gascon be recalled?
In last year’s effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, approximately 1.7 million of the 2.2 million signatures gathered were verified, which was in excess of the 1.5 million needed, KXTV-TV in Sacramento reported.
More than 441,400 signatures were tossed out, meaning a 20 percent rejection rate.
If that same 20 percent is applied to the signatures required to recall Gascon, that would mean the recall group would want to gather about 680,000 signatures to be safe.
“Simply clearing the required threshold is not enough — we must build the necessary cushion for signatures that are inevitably invalidated,” the campaign said in a statement to Fox News.
“We are urging every registered voter in Los Angeles County to mail in their petition by no later than June 24 to ensure they arrive on time, or alternatively, drop them off at one of our permanent signing locations by June 30,” it said. “The only thing that can stop us at this point is complacency.”
The effort to remove Gascon from office comes in the wake of San Francisco voters successfully recalling progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in convincing fashion last week.
San Francisco voters just recalled their pro-criminal DA, Chesa Boudin.
For George Gascon to face the same fate, we must submit 567k signatures by July 6.
Sign the petition TODAY: https://t.co/NKtY22obXc#RecallDAGeorgeGasconhttps://t.co/YvDXxLMNEF
— RecallDAGeorgeGascon (@DAGasconRecall) June 11, 2022
Gascon, like Boudin, implemented a series of what he characterized as reforms designed to end “mass incarceration” after taking office in December 2020.
“The measures included barring deputy DAs from prosecuting strikes, special circumstances and sentencing enhancements,” Fox News reported.
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County responded by suing Gascon to stop him from forcing them to break the law by not enforcing the state’s three-strikes law regarding repeat felony offenders.
A California appeals court sided with the ADDA earlier this month.
The Los Angeles Times reported that homicides in the city hit 397 in 2021, which was the highest number in 15 years and a 50 percent increase from 2019.
Robberies involving firearms were also up 57 percent from 2020 and 60 percent from 2019, and so far 2022 is outpacing 2021 at the same point in time.
“Violent crime of all types through April 23 was up 7.2% compared to last year, with much of the increase from aggravated assaults and robberies, many of which involved firearms, according to police. Robberies are up 18.5% over last year,” the Times said.
Meanwhile, homicides in areas patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department increased 94 percent from 2019 to 2021, according to KCBS-TV.
Angelinos sought to recall Gascon last year because of his soft-on-crime policies but failed to gather enough signatures.
