Recall Newsom ‘Petitions’ on Change.org are Not Valid
Illegitimate ‘recall’ accounts also collecting donations
By Edward Ring, July 15, 2020 2:20 am
Press play to hear a narrated version of this story, presented by AudioHopper.
There is only one petition currently circulating that, when signed by a registered voter, can be turned in to recall Governor Newsom. But you wouldn’t know that if you searched online.
Orrin Heatlie, the lead proponent of the latest recall effort, has disclosed that his volunteer signature gatherers are getting a curious response from otherwise supportive voters they encounter. Literally thousands of people are saying they have “already signed the online petition” to recall Governor Newsom. But the petitions they’re referring to, on the website Change.org, are not valid recall petitions.
The reason for this is simple: The only way any recall petition in the State of California can be valid is if (1) it is a petition that has been officially recognized by the California Secretary of State, and (2) if it is printed on paper and signed in ink. While it is possible to download and print a legitimate petition for signature, it is not possible to sign any official petition online. They are not valid.
This hasn’t stopped people from setting up online accounts on Change.org under the key words “Recall Newsom.” A search on the Change.org website showed that one account set up to gather recall Newsom petitions has gotten over 364,000 supporters, another has over 56,000, and another has 29,000. Several additional accounts on Change.org are promoting Recall Newsom petitions with hundreds or thousands of supporters. These accounts are also collecting donations.
When asked about these misleading Change.org accounts, Heatlie said “these are not valid petitions. They are, in my opinion, defrauding the public of donations, and are profiteering with people’s frustration with this governor and his lack of leadership.”
The idea behind Change.org, established in 2007 and based in San Francisco, is a good one. It is a platform where anybody can set up an account and gather signatures for petitions to support or oppose literally anything. It is an excellent example of how an online resource can give people without money or celebrity the ability to nonetheless rally thousands, if not millions of people, to form a populist movement.
As noted on its website, Change.org’s “people powered campaigns for social change” have enabled political pressure that has freed people who were wrongfully convicted, has led to new laws, has changed corporate behavior, etc. While the campaigns on the platform appear to be overwhelmingly launched in support of liberal causes, the platform is obviously utilized by conservatives and independents, as evidenced by its many Recall Newsom accounts.
But an online petition, while useful to apply pressure, has no value whatsoever in California in terms of usable petitions that can be turned in to place anything onto the ballot, from a local ballot initiative to a statewide recall effort.
It may not be possible for the Recall Newsom campaign to compel Change.org to remove what are, at the very least, accounts that are established under misleading pretenses. And while Change.org has not encountered serious legal issues in more than ten years of operation, they are a for-profit corporation despite having the “.org” extension on their website address.
More questionable, however, are the motives of anyone who would launch an account on Change.org dedicated to the goal of recalling California’s governor. Because putting a petition on Change.org does not translate into submitting petitions to California’s Secretary of State to force a special recall election. It does, however, translate into donations pouring into the pockets of the people who put these petitions online.
If these people sincerely want to recall the governor of California, their Change.org accounts would point people to the officially recognized, downloadable petition. Or at the least, their accounts would disclose the fact that the petitions they’re putting on Change.org are not official recall petitions.
Governor Newsom has made a lot of mistakes. He has alienated millions of Californians. And it is not only Newsom’s actions before and during the pandemic that have harmed Californians, it is what Newsom represents. He is the leader of a collection of special interests that wield overwhelming financial power: left-wing billionaires, high-tech communications monopolies, environmentalist trial attorneys and lobbyists, and public sector unions. These special interests have turned California into a one-party state. Whatever they want, they get. They own the state legislature, and they own Gavin Newsom.
It is a shame that hundreds of thousands of Californians may end up signing online petitions on Change.org, thinking they have supported the recall in a meaningful way, when in fact they have accomplished nothing.
Forcing Gavin Newsom to fight for his political life will send a message across California and the nation. Voters have had enough. The political landscape is shifting. It is no longer acceptable to hide behind “woke” rhetoric, “green” causes, and COVID panic, using these emotional issues as an excuse for corporations and billionaires to destroy small businesses, raise taxes, and make California’s cost-of-living even more unaffordable.
There is only one way to sign a petition that can actually be submitted to recall Gavin Newsom, and that is to go to https://RecallGavin2020.com, download and print a petition, sign it in ink, and turn it in. Everything necessary to do that is on the official campaign website. The “petitions” on Change.org are good for public pressure campaigns, but they have no pull with the California Secretary of State.
There is still plenty of time. Millions of Californians want to recall California’s governor. But they have to sign an officially recognized petition. That would not include any “petition” hosted on Change.org.
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Very grateful you clarified this for everyone who is passionate to kick this malevolent governor out of office. Thank you.
Wanna bet those .. ” OTHER ” petitions are demoRat planted ones to siphon off names.. Hmmmm
I want business closure to end but I won’t ally with you Q’anon MAGA uneducated idiots. You’re just bitter fat old white men afraid of change. Sad and pathetic. Move to West Virginia. Get a job mining coal with all the other ignorant hillbillies.
Since we’re stereotyping, P. Michael Brown, the reason California votes for Democrats is because a bunch of old white liberals live in homes they grew up in and inherited, and pay negligible property taxes. And so, by the millions, these privileged wastrels who could never, ever buy a house today have no idea what the big, bloated, corrupt government they vote for is costing everyone else. So they beat their chests and think they’re our moral superiors, but make other people pay the price.
https://recallgavin2020.com/
He needs to go with all of this unapproved bs he’s not for the California citizens at all he over stepping what he is doing
Why not put up a website with a petition you can print out and mail in?
Thomas – the article had no less than three links to “a website with a petition you can print out and mail in.” Here is the link to the download and print page: https://recallgavin2020.com/petition
And here is a page showing where you can turn in your signed petition: https://recallgavin2020.com/location-locator/
And here are instructions for filling out the petitions, including an address to mail it if you don’t want to drop it off at one of the locations: https://recallgavin2020.com/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/OFFICIAL_PETITION_INSTRUCTIONS_06172020.pdf
Change.org Sounds like an Obama organization. Am I wrong?
The link at “officially recognized, downloadable” is dead – you should include the fully formed link to get people there as it’s the first link they’ll encounter…
If it doesn’t work, they may give up on the rest of the article & not make it to later links that do work….
This is too important to ignore… We need everyone to properly sign the official petition to remove this Communist sympathizer & utterly corrupt politician…
ExCaliExpat – the incorrect link is fixed now. Thank you for the heads up!
Change.org is to recall efforts what Snopes.com is to facts.
Thanks for clarifying.
I do hope PILES of these petitions are coming in. I have seen a few recall petition tables here in my area and a lot of eager people lining up to sign. I won’t say where because Newsoms people will dispatch their paid band of angry flying monkeys to burn down our city
A person looking from the outside, I see the same problem as the last recall petition.
Not enough sign up locations.
Confusion when googled, Erin Cruise recall still on google, there is no division on who is sponsoring this recall. Needs to make it clear that this is the latest recall..
Needs more ways to let people know signing locations.
On a personal thought, forget the fancy booth set ups and concentrate on sitting up a card table in front of busy businesses, these booths are not getting the numbers you need, get out in front of the hard working, everyday people who can’t afford the luxuries that the high fluent class of Democrats can.
I’ve seen other petitions set up in front of Walmart entrance on Steven Creek, this is where you will reach the people that want him recalled.
I can find all info needed, but when I try to access link for locations to sign petition, guess what?!, just sits there and does nothing. Democruntic website to be sure!
It works fine. Here’s the download page:
https://recallgavin2020.com/petition/
thank you , for sharing information.
I would think it would be smart to look and see the last time such a petition actually got rid of a louse. I heard from reliable sources that three had already been turned in and they were told, not enough signatures. Why would anyone turn it in if it didn’t yet have enough signatures? Something hinky here. I was told by a Cali political activist that it’s been twenty years since anyone was booted out and they used a professional company that did the petition.
we the people of California need to recall governor gavin newsom now before its to late and he ruins this state go to the web site recallgavin2020 .com and see for your self thank you
Since when does it have to be a legal process? Lie, cheat, steal, buy, whatever it takes to get your way. Just look at the Presidential election, legality finishes last. The side that lies, cheats, and steals more wins. Forget voting, that’s all history. The USA doesn’t exist as it did before.