When Californians vote in September’s gubernatorial recall election, Gov. Gavin Newsom won’t be listed as a Democrat.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge denied Newsom's request to identify himself as a Democrat on the Sept. 14 ballot after Newsom failed to include his party identification when he filed a formal answer to recall organizers' petition last February.
Newsom sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, his own appointee and a Democrat, two weeks ago after he asked her to allow a correction and she declined.
"Secretary Weber had no ministerial duty to accept the untimely designation, and writ relief appears at the outset to be unavailable," Judge James Arguelles wrote in his ruling Monday.
California passed a law months before organizers filed their recall petition allowing elected officials in a recall election to be identified by their political party. Arguelles said the law, otherwise known as Senate Bill 151, "unambiguously precludes party information from appearing on a recall ballot where the elected officer fails timely to make the designation."
"(The) objective of SB 151 is better described as one to provide elected officers with discretion to inform recall voters about their party preferences, as opposed to imposing a requirement that voters be so informed," Arguelles wrote.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner and the organizers of the campaign to recall Newsom had applications granted to be named as intervenors in the suit.
You can read the entirety of the ruling below.
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