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SW21:027

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2021
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Secretary of State Announces Qualifications for Potential Recall Candidates

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Secretary of State’s office has announced that a replacement candidate must follow existing primary election nomination procedures to run for the office of Governor and must file the required paperwork no less than 59 days before the scheduled recall election.

Counties still have until June 22nd to report the numbers of signatures withdrawn from recall petitions. No recall election will be announced until the Secretary of State determines that a sufficient number of eligible signatures have been gathered.

A potential replacement candidate must meet the following legal qualifications:

  • Be a U.S. citizen
  • Be a California registered voter and otherwise qualified to vote for that office at the time nomination papers are issued
  • Not have been convicted of a felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes
  • Has not served two terms in the office since November 6, 1990

The process also requires that a potential candidate complete the following:

  • File with the Secretary of State two copies of every income tax return the candidate filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the five most recent taxable years, one unredacted copy and another copy with required redactions
  • File with the county elections official, in which the candidate is registered to vote, the following:  
    • A Declaration of Candidacy, and  
    • Nomination Papers, with 65 to 100 valid nomination signatures 
    • Pay a filing fee of $4,194.94 to the county elections official at the time the candidate obtains their Declaration of Candidacy and nomination papers 
    • A candidate may choose to submit a minimum of 7,000 valid signatures on petitions in lieu of the filing fee

A full set of FAQs on the potential gubernatorial recall are available on the Secretary of State’s website.

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