The effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon did not just fail, it crashed and burned. In office for less than two years, Gascon has high unfavorable polling numbers, tons of bad publicity, and detractors with deep pockets. Despite all that, the recall proponents were unable to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for a recall campaign.
According to the L.A. County Registrar, the recall proponents submitted 715,833 signatures. Of those, 520,050 signatures were found to be valid. The rest were found to be invalid for a variety of reasons including 88,464 that were not registered and 43,593 that had already signed the petition. The proponents needed 566,857 to qualify the recall so they fell 46,807 short. They are not expected to contest the Registrar’s findings.
This was the second attempt to qualify a recall effort. The proponents of the second effort have stated that they will not attempt a third before Gascon faces the votes in 2024, assuming he runs for re-election.
Disappointment extends beyond the recall proponents. Republican candidates in L.A. County had hoped the recall effort would bring out additional Republican voters to help boost their candidacies in the solidly blue county.
Since there will be no recall on the November ballot, those around the water cooler have started a fantasy football campaign about who and how many will challenge the incumbent District Attorney. Currently, the under/over is 8.