Recalling Governors: A History of Voters Who Had Enough

Voters in 20 states have the option of tossing their governor out of office before the end of his or her term.

Still, since 1921, gubernatorial recalls have made it to the ballot in only three states—North Dakota, California, and Wisconsin. However, recalling local officials and state legislators has been more common.

The concept of recalling politicians commonly is thought of as part of the progressive movement of the early 20th century. But the debate over recall goes back much further, and states do it differently.

"Some have what's called a political recall law, like California, like Wisconsin, like Arizona, where you could do it for whatever reason you want to," Joshua Spivak, an authority on recall elections, says. "Other states have a very severe limit and those states ... rarely have recalls or have many fewer recalls, and then have almost none on the state level."

Spivak, senior fellow at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College in New York, joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss the history of recall elections just days before California holds another one. Spivak is the author of a new book on the topic, "Recall Elections: From Alexander Hamilton to Gavin Newsom."

We also cover these stories:

• America is on track to default on the national debt if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling by mid-October, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns.
• Top Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee express concern over the fate of Americans and Afghan allies stranded in Afghanistan.
• Workers remove a large statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, capital of the Confederacy.

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