Holly MatkinLos Angeles, CA – The petition containing 715,833 signatures gathered to recall embattled Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon will not appear on voters’ ballots.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said in a press release that the petition contained nearly 200,000 “invalid” signatures, thereby making the petition insufficient for ballot qualification.
“Based on the examination and verification, which conducted in compliance with the statutory and regulatory requirements of the California Government Code, Elections Code, and Code of Regulations, 520,050 signatures were found to be valid and 195,783 were found to be invalid,” Logan’s office said.
Omission of the “invalid” signatures left the petition 46,537 signatures shy of the mandatory minimum of 566,857 signatures required for ballot qualification.
“The petition has failed to meet the sufficiency requirements and no further action shall be taken on the petition,” Logan’s office concluded.
Examiners determined that 88,464 of the signatures were not registered, and that 43,593 were duplicates, according to the press release.
More than 32,000 signatures were found to be invalid due to different address information, while another 9,490 were disqualified for “mismatch signature,” Logan’s office said.
Out-of-county addresses were blamed for 5,374 of the invalid signatures, 7,344 of the endorsements were “canceled,” and another 9,331 were invalidated for “other” reasons, according to the press release.
Recall campaign organizers will be able to review the findings compiled by Logan’s office for the next three weeks, FOX News reported.
The campaign’s organizer, Tim Lineberger, told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that there would not be a third recall attempt if the second attempt failed.
The group said they will instead focus on unseating Gascon in the 2024 election.
Gascon tweeted that he was “grateful to more forward from this attempted political power grab.”
“Rest assured LA County, the work hasn’t stopped,” he wrote. “My primary focus has been & will always be keeping us safe & creating a more equitable justice system for all. I remain strongly committed to that work & to you.”
Grateful to move forward from this attempted political power grab-rest assured LA County, the work hasn’t stopped.
My primary focus has been & will always be keeping us safe & creating a more equitable justice system for all.
I remain strongly committed to that work & to you.
— George Gascón (@GeorgeGascon) August 15, 2022
Crime in Los Angeles County has surged under Gascon’s progressive soft-on-crime policies, leading to the second recall attempt, FOX News reported.
Homicides in Los Angeles are at a 15-year high, and the embattled district attorney is detested by many of the prosecutors who work for him, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In fact, a vast majority of the prosecutors in Gascon’s office supported the recall, the Los Angeles Times reported.
