California Gov. Gavin Newsom is not happy about the recent ruling handed down from Sacramento Superior Court Judge James Arguelles, which stated that he will not be listed as a Democrat on the recall ballot that is currently slated for September.
Arguelles said that Newsom’s allegations of an error made in 2020 by his attorney just aren’t enough to overturn a verdict that was handed down by Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who was actually appointed to her decision by Newsom himself.
Newsom filed a lawsuit against Weber back in June after she made the initial determination that his political party would not appear on the ballot due to oversight from his attorney when his office responded to the recall challenge last year.
In February 2020, Newsom responded to the filing, meeting a seven-day window to do so, though he did not include his party preference. Thomas Willis, the governor’s attorney, took the blame for the mistake and told authorities he was unaware of a law, which took effect two months prior to the governor’s office’s response, that stipulated he denote party affiliation.
Newsom signed the rule change in 2019 after recall subjects were previously forbidden from indicating Republican or Democrat on the ballot.
“No one is above the law, and this ruling makes clear, that includes Gavin Newsom,” Eric Early, one of the main attorneys behind the recall effort, went on to say.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis announced on July 1 that voters can decide whether or not to oust Newsom on Sept. 14 after state authorities made the determination that recall organizers obtained enough valid signatures.
Residents of the state of California ended up only withdrawing 43 signatures from the petition to recall Newsom, leaving a whopping 1,719,900 that is well above the 1.5 million needed to push the move forward.
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