The California State Senate Elections Committee is preparing a bill that would “out” the identities of every single one of the more than two million people who signed the petitions to recall Governor Gavin Newsom.
The bill, Senate Bill 663, proposed and authored by State Senator Josh Newman, was gutted and stuffed by lawmakers out of the sight of voters and reconsidered at a virtual hearing Monday in Sacramento. Newman was the last target of a California recall campaign. He was successfully recalled from office and then ran for office and won.
Under California law, an individual can remove their name from a petition they’ve signed if they later change their minds. California Democrats are hoping to remove enough names to de-certify the petitions or sully the effort. The petitions have already qualified for the ballot.
But the issue is bigger than this.
Assemblyman Kevin Kiley notes that it such a law would leave whoever signed the petition vulnerable to the partisan wolves.
A bill to expose the name and address of everyone who signs a Recall petition just passed the Senate Elections Committee. California’s counter-Enlightenment marches on.
A bill to expose the name and address of everyone who signs a Recall petition just passed the Senate Elections Committee. California's counter-Enlightenment marches on.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) April 12, 2021
Organizers and supporters of the Recall Gavin Newsom campaign believe senate Democrats want to use their power to intimidate voters and put pressure on them to recant their desire to boot out the Democrat governor. There’s punishment written into the law for third parties to dox the people who signed the petitions, but obviously the people on the recall campaign don’t trust the Democrats in charge.
State law already allows campaigns to look at the petitions but the recall officials believe the individuals would be left to the cancel culture hate squads. How much pressure would it take to convince someone to remove their name from a recall petition … or else?
The bill says in part:
It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the following:(1) Provide a mechanism for the target of a recall petition to communicate with constituents who may have signed that petition.(2) Provide a meaningful opportunity for voters who may have signed a recall petition to withdraw their signatures.(3) Combat the deception of voters by signature gatherers in order to obtain their signatures.[emphasis added]
Analysts have cautioned that the change to allow the “targets” of the recall to see the personal information could lead to doxing.
Kiley, who’s one of the most outspoken critics of the governor – and his state representative – told PJ Media the move toward this legislation is “corrupt.”
This state’s corrupt political class continues to deny Californians a stake in our government in every way possible. The obvious intention of this bill is to chill citizen participation through the prospect of voter intimidation, bullying, and reprisals. As always, excluding the people serves to strengthen the grip of Special Interests on our Capitol.
Democrat State Senator Steve Glazer is the chairman of the elections committee. A message Monday afternoon was not returned before publication.
Some downplay the impact of this bill, which will return to the Senate Elections Committee to approve revisions, but the chill is in the air and it was put there during a recall campaign by the party that has a supermajority in both legislative houses.
We’ll update this story as information comes in.
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