California's Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber is releasing the grand total price tag for last year's Gubernatorial Recall Election of Governor Newsom.
In a letter to the state Department of Finance and the chairs of the Assembly and State Senate Budget Committees, it's been reported that the total statewide cost of the election was over $200 million, which includes more than $174 million in county costs and $26 million in costs to the Secretary of State's Office. Dr. Weber notes while it is less than originally estimated, it still comes as a "substantial cost to taxpayers and a significant disruption to governing the state". In the recall election held last September, Governor Newsom retained his seat by a wide margin - out of nearly 13 million votes cast, 61.9% of voters opposed his removal from office, while 38.1% voted to recall. Among the dozens of candidates who ran to replace him, radio talk show host Larry Elder had the most votes, but fell short in the final ballot
While Governor Newsom was re-elected from last year’s recall vote, the governor is again up for election later this year.