The second effort to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón did not receive enough legitimate signatures on the ballot petition, falling more than 50,000 short, securing Gascón’s position until 2024, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The effort to oust Gascón comes months after a successful effort to recall San Francisco attorney general Chesa Boudin, who succeeded Gascón in San Francisco; Gascón was appointed to the position by Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom after Kamala Harris became California’s Attorney General in 2011.
Voters recalled Boudin after crime in the San Francisco spiked coincidental to many liberal policies–such as bail reform and homeless persons assistance programs–which conservatives have blamed for poor conditions in a city they claim they would never visit because it’s a liberal bastion.
Many of the programs Boudin oversaw were initially introduced by Gascón, who had previously been a Assistant Police Chief in Los Angeles from 2003 to 2006, before being hired as the chief of the Mesa, Arizona police force.
The Los Angeles County election division determined that the petition to put a recall to a vote was 50,000 legitimate signature short of the 566,857 needed, which represents 10% of eligible voters in the jurisdiction. Funded by wealthy, primarily conservative Californians, the recall collected about 715,000 votes, but more than 20% of them have been voided for a variety of reasons. Many of the signatures were collected via a mass mailing program that did not qualify the people receiving the mailer, resulting in thousands of ineligible people signing the petition.