GRAY DAVIS, the Governor of California, asked the state’s Supreme Court yesterday to delay his October 7 “recall election” until next March, in a move that his opponents criticised as a stalling tactic.
Mr Davis also asked the court to allow him to run as a candidate to replace himself.
That bizarre request was made because, under the election’s complex rules, the planned ballot will ask voters two questions: whether they want to oust Mr Davis and, if the answer is yes, who they want to replace him.
Mr Davis argues that rules preventing his name appearing on the second half of the ballot violate his right to stand for election. Because dozens of candidates are likely to split the second vote, someone could win with fewer votes than Mr Davis secured in the first ballot.
Mr Davis’s lawyers also argued that the election’s compressed timetable would disenfranchise voters because counties would have insufficient time to prepare.
Advertisement
Political analysts said that Mr Davis had a reasonable chance of changing the date, but little chance of pursuading the court to allow him on to the second half of the recall ballot. They said that a date in March would give him more time to attack his rivals, who must declare their candidacies by Saturday.
The recall election was triggered by a petition signed by more than a million disgruntled Californians. So far, 296 people have requested nomination papers.
The election took another surreal turn yesterday as Larry Flynt, the pornographic magazine publisher behind the Hustler empire, said he would be running. The actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will reveal tomorrow whether or not he will contest the election.
Several senior Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to pursuade Senator Dianne Feinstein, described in political circles as “the 800lb gorilla”, to enter the race.