July 23, 2021 - SACRAMENTO, CA – On July 17th, 2021, the California Secretary of State posted the Notice to Candidates, which included the candidates who fulfilled the requirements to appear on the ballot for the Gubernatorial Recall Election and provided an opportunity to challenge in court ballot designations and inclusion of candidates on the ballot.
The period to challenge the content of the Notice of Candidates has closed. Below are the outcomes in legal challenges to ballot designations and inclusion of candidates on the ballot. The Secretary of State’s Office will comply with the rulings in all cases.
Elder v. Weber and Chu v. Weber: Larry Elder's petition was granted by the court and he will appear on the ballot as a replacement candidate.
In light of the today’s hearing where the court determined that Election Code 8902 did not apply to the recall election, we have added Joe Symmon and Kevin Kaul to the certified list of recall candidates.
Faulconer v. Weber: Kevin Faulconer’s petition to appear as a “retired mayor” was denied by the court and he will appear on the recall ballot as a “businessman/educator.”
Paffrath v. Weber: Kevin Paffrath’s petition to appear on the ballot as Kevin “Meet Kevin” Paffrath was denied by the court. He will appear on the recall ballot as Kevin Paffrath.
Furin v. Weber: The case was resolved without a hearing. Rhonda Furin will appear on the recall ballot as a replacement candidate.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber Certifies Replacement Candidate List for September 14, 2021, California Gubernatorial Recall Election
SACRAMENTO, CA – Secretary of State Shirley Weber has published the certified lists of candidates who will appear on the September 14, 2021, California Gubernatorial Recall Election ballots. The official lists, with ballot designations for each candidate, if applicable, and contact information is available at:
https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2021-recall/certified-list.pdf
The recall ballot for the September 14, 2021, California Gubernatorial Recall Election will have two parts.
In the first part, voters would have the option to vote “yes” or “no” to the question of whether to remove the Governor from office. In the second part, the voter would have an opportunity to select a replacement candidate.
This list of replacement candidates will appear as choices for the second question. On July 19, 2021, the Secretary of State’s office conducted a randomized alphabet drawing to determine the order of candidates’ names on the ballot.
The randomized alphabet applies throughout the candidate's name, last name first, followed, if necessary, by first name, then middle name. If more than one candidate's last name begins with the same letter, the alphabet applies to the second letter and, if needed, the third, etc., until different letters appear in the same position. For example, if two candidates with the last names Campbell and Carlson are running for the same office, their order on the ballot will depend on the order in which the letters "M" and "R" were drawn in the randomized alphabet drawing.
Contests Voted on Statewide
Names of replacement candidates for Governor rotate by Assembly District, starting with Assembly District 1 where the names appear as first determined by the randomized alphabet. In Assembly District 2, the candidate who appeared first in Assembly District 1 drops to the bottom and the other candidates move up one position and so on throughout the 80 districts. This gives each candidate more than one opportunity to appear at the "top of the ticket" in his/her race.
Vote-by-Mail Ballots to be Sent to Every Active Registered Voter
Ahead of the September 14, 2021, California Gubernatorial Recall Election, every active registered voter living domestically will begin to be mailed 29 days prior to Election Day. Military and Overseas voters will be mailed their ballots 45 days before Election Day.
In California, every vote-by-mail ballot already comes with a first-class prepaid postage return envelope.
Tracking your Vote-by-Mail Ballot
The Secretary of State’s “Where’s My Ballot?” tracking tool is now available to voters in all 58 California counties. All California voters can now sign-up at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov to receive automated notifications about their vote-by-mail ballots by email, text (SMS), or voice call. This is the second statewide election to provide ballot tracking to all 58 California counties.
Voters who sign up for “Where’s My Ballot?” will receive automatic updates when the county elections office:
- Mailed the voter’s ballot.
- Received the voter’s ballot.
- Counted the voter’s ballot.
- Has any issues with the voter’s ballot.
Voters who sign up for “Where’s My Ballot?” will also receive communications from their county elections office about important election deadlines and critical updates such as polling place changes.
Source: CA. SOS
