Jay Inslee recall, Governor of Washington (2021)
Jay Inslee recall: Governor of Washington |
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Recall status |
Table of contents |
Recall supporters Election history Path to the ballot |
See also |
External links Footnotes |
An effort to recall Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) was launched on May 17, 2021.[1] The grounds for recall had to first be approved by the Washington Superior Court before it could move forward. State officials announced on June 16 that a judge had dismissed the recall petition. According to the state attorney general’s office, the "judge ruled that the five charges alleged in the petition were 'legally and factually insufficient.'"[2] If the reasons for the recall had been approved, supporters would have needed to collect 1,014,114 million signatures within 270 days to require a recall election.
On April 28, 2022, the Washington Supreme Court upheld the Thurston County Superior Court's decision that the recall effort did not provide factually or legally sufficient grounds.[3]
Recall supporters criticized Inslee over his response to the coronavirus pandemic.[4]
Inslee was elected as Washington's governor in 2012 with 51.4% of the vote. He was re-elected in 2020 with 57% of the vote.
To read about other recall efforts related to the coronavirus and government responses to the pandemic, click here.
Recall supporters
The Recall Inslee group filed a recall petition against the governor on May 17, 2021. The group's website listed the following reasons for recall:[5]
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Charge One, on or about March 23, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-25, “Stay Home – Stay Healthy.” The Stay Home – Stay Healthy order prohibited all people in Washington State from participating in social, spiritual and recreational gatherings of any kind regardless of the number of participants. Violations of Proclamation 20-25 were punishable as crimes pursuant to RCW 43.06.220(5). Proclamation 20-25 violated Article I, Section 11 of the Washington State Constitution, “Religious Freedom.” Charge Two, on or about March 18, 2020, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-19, “Evictions.” The Evictions order prohibited residential landlords from initiating judicial action seeking a writ of restitution involving a dwelling unit if the alleged basis for the writ is the failure of the tenant or tenants to timely pay rent. Violations of Proclamation 20-19 were punishable as crimes pursuant to RCW 43.06.220(5). Proclamation 20-19 violated Article IV, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution, “Judicial Power, Where Vested.” Charge Three, Governor Inslee exceeded statutory authority granted in RCW 43.06.220(2)(g) by suspending the Open Public Meetings Act, infringing on the People of Washington’s right to petition the government for redress and infringing on the People’s rights to peaceably assemble under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, thereby violating RCW 43.06.220(2)(g). Such a violation of RCW 43.06.220(2)(g) constitutes misfeasance, a violation of the Governor’s oath of office, or both; either result subjects the Governor to recall. Charge Four, Governor Inslee exceeded statutory authority granted in RCW 43.06.220(2)(g) by suspending people’s rights to peaceably assemble by limiting the number of people allowed to attend a single gathering under Proclamations 20-05, 20-06, 20-07, 20-11, and subsequent Proclamations. Such a violation results in a valid claim for misfeasance, a violation of the Governor’s oath of office, or both; either result subjects the Governor to recall. Charge Five, on February 29th, 2020 and beyond, the Governor issued all of the Covid-19 pandemic Proclamations without just cause as he failed to make a finding that a public disorder, disaster, energy emergency, or riot existed in the State of Washington due to Covid-19. Such a finding is a condition precedent to declaring a state of emergency and is required by RCW 43.06.010(12). The Governor’s illegal Covid-19 Proclamations result in a valid claim for misfeasance, a violation of the Governor’s oath of office, or both; either result subjects the Governor to recall.[6] |
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Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Washington
Grounds for recall
Article I, §33 of the Washington Constitution states that a recall can only occur if the targeted public official has "committed some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office, or who has violated his oath of office."[7]
Signature requirement
A petition for recall must include a specified number of valid signatures from registered voters determined as a percentage of total votes cast for all candidates who ran for the office in the most recent election contest. This amounts to:[8]
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(1) In the case of a state officer, an officer of a city of the first class, a member of a school board in a city of the first class, or a county officer of a county with a population of forty thousand or more—signatures of legal voters equal to twenty-five percent of the total number of votes cast for all candidates for the office to which the officer whose recall is demanded was elected at the preceding election. |
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Supporters trying to recall a statewide elected official must turn in signatures within 270 days. The recall campaigns for non-statewide officials have 180 days to turn in signatures.[9]
Ballotpedia covered 35 coronavirus-related recall efforts against 94 officials in 2022, accounting for 13% of recalls that year. This is a decrease from both 2020 and 2021. COVID-related recalls accounted for 37% of all recall efforts in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020, there were 87 COVID-related recalls against 89 officials, and in 2021, there were 131 against 214 officials.
The chart below compares coronavirus-related recalls to recalls for all other reasons in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Election history
2020
See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2020
General election
General election for Governor of Washington
Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Loren Culp in the general election for Governor of Washington on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Jay Inslee (D) | 56.6 | 2,294,243 |
![]() | Loren Culp (R) | 43.1 | 1,749,066 | |
Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 13,145 |
Total votes: 4,056,454 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Governor of Washington
The following candidates ran in the primary for Governor of Washington on August 4, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
✔ | ![]() | Jay Inslee (D) | 50.1 | 1,247,916 |
✔ | ![]() | Loren Culp (R) | 17.4 | 433,238 |
![]() | Joshua Freed (R) ![]() | 8.9 | 222,553 | |
![]() | Tim Eyman (R) | 6.4 | 159,495 | |
![]() | Raul Garcia (R) | 5.4 | 135,045 | |
![]() | Phil Fortunato (R) | 4.0 | 99,265 | |
![]() | Don Rivers (D) ![]() | 1.0 | 25,601 | |
Leon Lawson (Trump Republican Party) ![]() | 0.9 | 23,073 | ||
![]() | Liz Hallock (G) ![]() | 0.9 | 21,537 | |
![]() | Cairo D'Almeida (D) ![]() | 0.6 | 14,657 | |
![]() | Anton Sakharov (Trump Republican Party) | 0.6 | 13,935 | |
![]() | Nate Herzog (Pre-2016 Republican Party) ![]() | 0.5 | 11,303 | |
![]() | Gene Hart (D) | 0.4 | 10,605 | |
![]() | Omari Tahir-Garrett (D) | 0.4 | 8,751 | |
![]() | Ryan Ryals (Unaffiliated) ![]() | 0.3 | 6,264 | |
![]() | Henry Dennison (Socialist Workers Party) | 0.2 | 5,970 | |
![]() | GoodSpaceGuy (Trump Republican Party) | 0.2 | 5,646 | |
![]() | Richard Carpenter (R) ![]() | 0.2 | 4,962 | |
![]() | Elaina Gonzalez (Independent) | 0.2 | 4,772 | |
![]() | Matthew Murray (R) | 0.2 | 4,489 | |
![]() | Thor Amundson (Independent) | 0.1 | 3,638 | |
![]() | Bill Hirt (R) | 0.1 | 2,854 | |
![]() | Martin Wheeler (R) | 0.1 | 2,686 | |
![]() | Ian Gonzales (R) | 0.1 | 2,537 | |
![]() | Joshua Wolf (New Liberty Party) ![]() | 0.1 | 2,315 | |
![]() | Cregan Newhouse (Unaffiliated) ![]() | 0.1 | 2,291 | |
![]() | Brian Weed (Unaffiliated) | 0.1 | 2,178 | |
![]() | Alex Tsimerman (Standup-America Party) | 0.1 | 1,721 | |
![]() | Tylor Grow (R) | 0.1 | 1,509 | |
![]() | Dylan Nails (Independent) ![]() | 0.1 | 1,470 | |
![]() | Craig Campbell (Unaffiliated) | 0.0 | 1,178 | |
![]() | William Miller (American Patriot Party) | 0.0 | 1,148 | |
![]() | Cameron Vessey (Unaffiliated) | 0.0 | 718 | |
![]() | Winston Wilkes (Propertarianist Party) | 0.0 | 702 | |
![]() | David Blomstrom (Fifth Republic Party) | 0.0 | 519 | |
![]() | David Voltz (Cascadia Labour Party) | 0.0 | 480 | |
Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1,938 |
Total votes: 2,488,959 | ||||
![]() | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Mathew Mackenzie (R)
- Phillip Bailey (D)
- Asa Palagi (Independent)
- Lisa Thomas (Unaffiliated)
- Matthew Heines (Unaffiliated)
2016
- See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2016
Inslee ran for re-election as governor of Washington. He competed with three other Democrats, three Republicans, and four third party candidates in the August 2 top-two primary election. Inslee placed first in the primary election and faced Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant (R), who placed second, in the November 8 general election.
Results
General election
Incumbent Jay Inslee defeated Bill Bryant in the Washington governor election.
Washington Governor, 2016 | ||||
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Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
Democratic | ![]() |
54.24% | 1,760,520 | |
Republican | Bill Bryant | 45.49% | 1,476,346 | |
Write-in votes | 0.26% | 8,416 | ||
Total Votes | 3,245,282 | |||
Source: Washington Secretary of State |
Primary election
The following candidates ran in the Washington primary for governor.
Washington primary for governor, 2016 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
Democratic | ![]() |
49.30% | 687,412 | |
Republican | ![]() |
38.33% | 534,519 | |
Republican | Bill Hirt | 3.47% | 48,382 | |
Democratic | Patrick O'Rourke | 2.91% | 40,572 | |
Independent | Steve Rubenstein | 1.62% | 22,582 | |
Democratic | James Robert Deal | 1.05% | 14,623 | |
Democratic | Johnathan Dodds | 1.01% | 14,152 | |
Republican | Goodspaceguy | 0.95% | 13,191 | |
Socialist Workers Party | Mary Martin | 0.74% | 10,374 | |
Fifth Republic Party | David Blomstrom | 0.32% | 4,512 | |
Holistic Party | Christian Joubert | 0.29% | 4,103 | |
Total Votes | 1,394,422 | |||
Source: Washington Secretary of State |
2012
- See also: Washington gubernatorial election, 2012
Inslee was elected Governor of Washington in the 2012 election. He finished first in the August 7th blanket primary and defeated Republican attorney general Rob McKenna in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[10][11]
Governor of Washington General Election, 2012 | ||||
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Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
Democratic | ![]() |
51.4% | 1,582,802 | |
Republican | Rob McKenna | 48.3% | 1,488,245 | |
Other | Write-in votes | 0.3% | 8,592 | |
Total Votes | 3,079,639 | |||
Election results via Washington Secretary of State |
- Primäre
Governor of Washington, Primary, 2012 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
Democratic | ![]() |
47.1% | 664,534 | |
Republican | ![]() |
42.9% | 604,872 | |
Republican | Shahram Hadian | 3.3% | 46,169 | |
Democratic | Rob Hill | 3.2% | 45,453 | |
Independent | James White | 1% | 13,764 | |
No Party Preference | Christian Joubert | 0.7% | 10,457 | |
Independent | L. Dale Sorgen | 0.7% | 9,734 | |
Republican | Max Sampson | 0.6% | 8,753 | |
Republican | Javier O. Lopez | 0.4% | 6,131 | |
Total Votes | 1,409,867 | |||
Election results via Washington Secretary of State |
Historical gubernatorial recalls
From 2003 to 2020, Ballotpedia tracked 78 gubernatorial recall efforts against 21 different governors. During that time, two recalls made the ballot and one governor was successfully recalled. Former California Gov. Gray Davis (D) was recalled by voters in 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was chosen as Davis' replacement. The only other governor to ever be successfully recalled was former North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier (R) in 1921. In 2012, Wisconsin voted to retain former Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the recall election. He received 53.1% of the vote.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Now an Inslee recall? Some people just can’t quit the last election," May 19, 2021
- ↑ AP News, "Judge dismisses Washington state governor recall petition," June 17, 2021
- ↑ King5, "Washington justices unanimously reject Inslee recall effort," April 29, 2022
- ↑ Newsweek, "Group Behind Recall Jay Inslee Bid Attack 'Tyrannical' Washington Governor," May 18, 2021
- ↑ Recall Inslee, "Charges," accessed May 27, 2021
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Washington State Legislature, "Constitution of the State of Washington," accessed May 27, 2021
- ↑ Washington State Legislature, "Revised Code of Washington: 29A.56.180," accessed May 27, 2021
- ↑ Washington State Legislature, "Revised Code of Washington: 29A.56.150," accessed May 27, 2021
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "August 7, 2012 Primary Results: State executives," accessed August 8, 2012
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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