Recall reconaissance
Recall signatures by county dependant on political bent
There are a lot of things that are crazy about the recall campaign, but this ain’t one of them. At first glance, one sees a strange gap between some counties’ populations and the number of signatures each submitted for the recall, like how Butte County has roughly one-sixth the voting population of Alameda County but pulled in almost as many recall signatures. Often the disparity can be explained by how the respective counties voted in last year’s gubernatorial election. For instance, Republican strongholds like Orange County submitted more than four times as many signatures per voting-age resident as traditionally Democratic counties, such as those in the Bay Area.
Population Voted for County (18+) Signatures* in 2002
Alameda 1,832,805 14,037 (.13%) Gray Davis (62.9%)
Butte 154,401 9,832 (6.4%) Bill Simon (53.3%)
Glenn 18,252 1,185 (6.1%) Bill Simon (65.5%)
Humboldt 97,412 6,231 (6.4%) Gray Davis (45.5%)
Los Angeles 6,853,923 275,548 (4.%) Gray Davis (55.9%)
Marin 197,831 4,049 (2.%) Gray Davis (56.3%)
Orange 2,077,791 190,988 (9.2%) Bill Simon (57.5%)
Sacramento 880,919 61,546 (6.9%) Bill Simon (46.7%)
San Francisco 660,223 4,135 (.62%) Gray Davis (66.3%)
Tehama 40,908 3,979 (9.7%) Bill Simon (58.6%)
*The second number denotes what percentage of the county’s voting-age population contributed signatures to the recall petition.
Sources: 2000 U.S. Census, California Secretary of State
