Volunteers were collected five days before the deadline for submitting signatures for the “Recall Newsom” campaign. (Courtesy of Jones)
20,000 more signatures submitted at the last minute
Before 3:00 p.m. on the 17th, Stella, Sam and a few other volunteers were waiting in front of the Orange County Election Center office building for the last few people to drop off their signatures; by 4:30 p.m., they had organized and sealed 10 cardboard boxes and a paper bag and were waiting in front of the Election Center for delivery. At 4:50 (5:00 p.m.), the Election Center staff came out to accept a total of 21,855 signatures.
Volunteers handed in the signatures on the deadline day of the “Recall Newsom” campaign.
For more than an hour, Stella and her team carefully checked the signatures that had been delivered, counted them, re-boxed and sealed them, and noted on each box how many signatures were in it, and finally wrote down the total number of signatures.
The signature forms ready to be delivered, with the boxes sealed and the number counted.
Signature forms ready for delivery, sealed and counted.
After all the signatures were submitted on Time, everyone was relieved to stand next to the “Recall Newsom” banner for a group photo and shout “Recall Newsom. I’m not surprised that we were able to collect over 2 million signatures in total,” Stella said.
Most of the regional signature drives ended on March 7, and volunteers submitted the final signatures collected to the Recall Newsom civic group for pre-delivery checks. For example, whether there are two counties signed on one form, whether the names and addresses are filled in the boxes, and whether the volunteers need to sign their names and addresses at the bottom of each form. Sam said his wrists hurt from signing for the past two days.
Volunteers count the last 80 or so signatures delivered in front of the election center.
Volunteers from the “Recall Newsom” campaign wait to deliver their signatures.
But Stella, Jones and the Vietnamese volunteers didn’t stop after March 7, and continued to collect signatures almost every day through March 15 in Westminster and elsewhere. In data released by the Secretary of State’s office, 19,691 of the 103,536 signatures submitted in Orange County were ineligible (19 percent) as of the Feb. 5 count. Stella said, “There are many groups in Orange County, we are just one of them, and we collected far more than the 1.5 million needed without fear of their rigorous vetting.”
Jones said, “Today is a historic day (the last day of the signature drive) and I want the governor to know the power of our people, and I want everyone to see that. We’re all regular people, not some racist or militia they describe, my Family comes in different colors, but we all love America and are proud of her.”
Epidemic contributed to movement to remove Newsom
Stella, who said the Communist China virus (COVID-19) pandemic led to the movement to recall Newsom, said she immigrated to the U.S. more than 40 years ago, and “California was a Golden State then, and now it’s a hobo state” that they thought about leaving in 2015. Stella said, “But we should stay and change this, Governor Newsom is doing so many things that are hurting California; and now Biden is opening the borders again so everyone can come in and get freebies, and if we don’t fight hard, we’re going to lose this country.”
DeLeon (D) said, “Especially after the epidemic, our rights were violated, big companies didn’t shut down while small businesses were discriminated against and shut down, and millions of people went out of business. The governor told us not to do this, not to do that, but he himself can go to a restaurant and eat with several people, and his own children have been going to school.”
Bayer said, “I think it’s absolutely wrong to close schools, I have some beautiful grandchildren and I have to do something for them; and most of the small businesses have been closed.” Bayer said more than 30 percent of the people who came to sign the petition were Democrats, as well as Republicans and independents, and she met some people who were not registered to vote who also wanted to sign.
Jones said, “California is a very nice place, sunshine, beaches, mountains, but what has become of it, there are a lot of hobos and illegal immigrants in Los Angeles, etc. California is still the last state to open, while other states have been open for a long time, and we are very unhappy with Newsom’s way of doing things.”
Becoming a volunteer
De Leon said, “As soon as I heard about it I contacted the Secretary of State’s office, and as soon as the petition was published, I downloaded and printed it out and started doing the signatures for the levy almost around June of last year. With the recall petition we are telling Governor Newsom that you are not doing your job and abusing your office, then you will lose that office.”
Volunteer for the “Recall Newsom” campaign.
De Leon said he basically did it himself and got thousands of signatures on the street. “I talked to them and listened to their stories, and a lot of them were happy to sign, and it felt good that we weren’t burning down the city or doing anything illegal, but using the power of paper and pen legally.
Stella, a volunteer team convener, said, “People can join as long as they have the will to do so and the enthusiasm. We started the strike last June 10, and several of us have stuck with it since the beginning and have been volunteering for nine full months. We hope to wake up more people. Strike Newsom increases the connection between people who are thinking about what’s happening and are willing to join in.”
Sam expressed his dissatisfaction with Newsom’s approach, and he too joined the team from the beginning and stayed on for nine months. “There was an accident and the sign-up sheet flew everywhere, and a few of us rushed to chase and catch it. At first there were people who signed and then wrote the address of our volunteers. But the more people did it, the more experience they got.”
Talking about the process of collecting signatures, Jones said, “We collected signatures in different areas, worked with people from the Korean, Vietnamese and Hispanic communities, and it was great to work together, and everyone volunteered their time and money. Presumably there is a convener for each region, so you can contact them when you want to go to a region and discuss where the best place to set up a signature collection site is. I know Japanese and Spanish-language media outlets went to interview them, and there is a Jeff Rowland who is making a documentary on the recall of Newsom.”
Finally, Stella stressed, “The signature collection is just the beginning, Newsom and the others are trying to cancel our recall and also getting people to go around and collect signatures. So from today until September, the call for signatures to recall Newsom is over, and people should not sign any more petitions, that are asking to cancel the recall of Newsom. But they will not succeed, and I believe that God will help us.”
Recent Comments