If an elected state official is successfully recalled, that office would remain vacant until a new person is either elected or the next-in-line person steps into the role — should voters approve this ballot measure.
Proposition 5 essentially removes the second question posed to voters during a recall attempt, what’s called the successor question, making a recall effort just a simple yes-or-no choice for voters.
State-level recall elections in California ask voters two questions: Should the officeholder be removed, and who should replace them?
Spearheaded in 2024 by former Sen. Josh Newman — an Orange County Democrat who himself was recalled from office before winning his seat back — the effort seeks to eliminate that second question. And it would also allow the recalled official to run for that office again in the special election to fill the vacancy.
When it comes to the governor, if that person is recalled, the lieutenant governor would fill the role for the remainder of the term, Proposition 5 says. But if the governor is removed from office before the close of the nomination period for the next statewide election during the first two years of their term, a special election would be called to elect someone to finish out the term.
For other state offices, a vacancy would be filled according to state statute.
Newman was successfully recalled in 2018 after voting to raise the gas tax to help pay for future transportation projects and road improvements, but won his seat back in 2020. He pitched bills to tighten the recall process while in the legislature as well.
Proposition 5 has the support of Secretary of State Shirley Weber and the League of Women Voters of California.
It’s opposed, though, by the nonprofit Election Integrity Project California.