Gascón recall effort hits 450,000 signatures according to campaign leaders

The recall effort for L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón reported this week that, as of May 13, the campaign had collected 79.3% of the signatures needed to get the recall on the ballot, with 50 days left to qualify.

In a statement distributed on Wednesday, campaign leaders said they were closing in on the 566,857 needed signatures from registered Los Angeles County voters (10% of the total current registered voters) in order to meet the July 6 deadline.

They added that “thousands more” signatures were being turned in daily and millions of petitions were still to be mailed out directly to voters this week.

“With 50 days to go, we are continuing to see increases in signature collection and anticipate additional bumps as our mail program is fully deployed,” recall campaign officials said in a prepared statement. “We are on the cusp of qualifying this recall and positioned exactly where we need to be to hit our goals within the remaining time frame.

“If residents and community leaders continue to step up, this will be the beginning of the end of George Gascón’s reign of terror over Los Angeles,” campaign officials added.

Organizers at the anti Recall campaign for the district attorney declined to comment on Wednesday.

This is the second recall attempt against Gascón after a previous effort last year failed to acquire the minimum number of signatures to reach the ballot. Since he assumed office in December 2020, critics of Gascón have said his special directives have harmed public safety while his supporters have stated he and his office are attempting to change a system hampered by systemic racism and archaic legal theory.

If the campaign reaches the required number of signatures by the July deadline, government officials will need to decide whether it will be placed on the November general election ballot or if it will require a special election on a separate date.