Our weekly national and local news digest highlights a recall effort against LA County DA George GascwhereN and update redistributors. Read all about it in this week’s edition of the state and local tap.

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Voting Metrics Update

Sixty-four (64) statewide measures have been certified for the 2022 election in 30 states to date. No new measures were certified for last week’s ballot.

Signatures have been submitted and are awaiting verification for four additional initiatives in Alaska, Florida and Ohio:

Enough signatures have been verified for four initiatives in Massachusetts and Ohio to certify them to the legislator. If the legislature does not enact them, the promoters will have to collect a second round of signatures.

in-session states

Thirty-eight state legislatures of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri , Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin-are ordinary session.

Local ballot measures: the week in review

In 2022, Ballotpedia offers comprehensive coverage of elections in North America 100 largest cities by the population and all the state capitals. This includes all offices on the ballot in those cities, including their municipal elections, magistrate court elections, school electionsand local voting measures. Ballotpedia also covers all local recall electionsas well as all local ballot measures in California and a selection of notable local ballot measures on elections and police-related policies. Recent and upcoming local elections are listed below:

• February 8: Voters in the Seattle Public School District will decide on two property tax levy measures.

Special elections

Thirty-three (33) special state legislative elections were scheduled in 15 states this year. Eight stages have already taken place. Prior to those races, Democrats controlled seven of the seats and Republicans controlled one.

• In special elections between 2011 and 2021, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.
• On average, 57 seats have been filled in special elections in each of the past six even years (2010: 30, 2012: 46, 2014: 40, 2016: 65, 2018: 99, 2020: 59).
• On average, 85 seats have been filled by special elections in each of the last six odd-numbered years (2011: 95, 2013: 84, 2015: 89, 2017:98, 2019: 77, 2021: 66).

Upcoming special elections include:

February 8

February 15

February 22

March 1

Petitions to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón are approved for circulation

Petitions to call back George Gascon from his position as Los Angeles County District Attorney to California were approved for circulation on January 27. To get the recall on the ballot, supporters must collect 566,857 signatures by July 6.

Recall supporters served Gascón with a notice of intent to recall on December 7. They said crime has increased in the county since Gascón took office. They released the following statement on their website explaining why they were pursuing a recall:

“As soon as he was sworn in, District Attorney George Gascón began issuing directives to his prosecutors, asking them to go with crime, coddle criminals and trample the dignity and rights of victims of crime. To protect our communities, to measure just punishment to those who break our laws and to bring justice to victims of crime throughout Los Angles County, we must remember Attorney George Gascón.

At a press conference in December, Gascón defended his policy and said he was not responsible for the increase in homicides and robberies in the county. “We are trying to radically change a system that has served no one, neither the victims of crime, nor those who are accused, nor the public,” Gascón said.

Gascón said he was trying to make the criminal justice system more efficient and fair. “We’re really trying to use the science that’s currently available, the data that’s currently available, to do our job,” Gascón said. “And I’m not going to be intimidated by political rhetoric.”

An earlier recall attempt against Gascón did not go to a vote in 2021. Recall supporters announced on September 16 that they had not collected enough signatures to meet the filing deadline.

Gascón was elected to a four-year term in the nonpartisan general election on November 3, 2020, defeating incumbent Jackie Lacey with 53.5% of the vote.

In 2021, Ballotpedia covered a total of 351 recall attempts against 537 elected officials. This is the highest number of recall efforts and officials targeted since we began compiling recall data in 2012.

Hawaii and New York adopt new legislative district boundaries

Hawaii

The Hawaii Office of Elections officially published the states final legislative redistricting plan January 31 after the Hawaii Redistribution Commission voted 8-1 on Jan. 28 to approve a proposed legislative map. The plans were initially approved for public comment on October 28. On Jan. 6, the commission approved a motion to change plans for the legislative map after learning that initial plans had not properly accounted for the number of non-permanent residents on military installations in the state, which do not are not included in the legislative redistribution. Under the amended proposal, a legislative district was transferred from Oahu to Hawaii. The maps will go into effect for the 2022 Hawaii state legislature elections.

Commission Chairman Mark Mugiishi noted the maps have been established fairly. “I believe the principle of the democratic process is a fair and well-run election,” Mugiishi said. Commissioner Cal Chipchase noted, “They go through a long iteration of considering the best available data we have received and responding to community concerns and questions where possible.” Commissioner Robin Kennedy, who cast the only vote against the new maps, noted“I feel the community still doesn’t have the answers it needs. » Sandy My common cause of Hawaii noted“The final proposed maps do not take into account community concerns or testimonies and still divide communities of interest.”

New York

New York has enacted new say legislative constituencies on Feb. 3, when Governor Kathy Hochul (D) signed the proposals approved by the legislature. Earlier in the day, both houses approved the Senate and State House maps, which were included in a single bill. The State Senate voted 43-20 to approve, and the State House voted 120-27 to approve. The maps will go into effect for the 2022 elections in New York.

Following the passing of the cards, Hochul noted“These bills are necessary to redistribute constituencies and to provide certainty and clarity regarding those constituencies in a timely manner, allowing for the effective administration of the electoral process.” State Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy criticized the cards, saying“There is a wild and partisan gerrymandering that has taken place here. This violates the state constitution, and we’re going to try to get justice.

New York voters have approved a state constitutional amendment…Proposal 1— in 2014, which created a redistricting commission to draw legislative and congressional districts. On January 3, the New York Independent Redistricting Commission voted 5-5 on two legislative redistricting proposals, one proposed by the Democrats on the commission and the other proposed by the Republicans on the commission. The New York Legislature, which was unable to amend the proposals, rejected both cards on January 10. The commission then had 15 days to draw new maps but announced on January 24 that it would not submit any new proposals. Since the commission did not submit a revised map until January 25, the legislature was allowed to modify or create new redistricting proposals.

As of Feb. 4, 31 states have adopted legislative district maps for both houses, and one state has adopted maps that have not yet gone into effect. One state’s supreme court has overturned previously adopted maps and 17 states have yet to pass legislative redistricting plans after the 2020 census.

Learn more