A local ABC affiliate in San Francisco reports that a California State court judge ruled against Gavin Newsom on Monday, denying the embattled Governor the opportunity to add his party affiliation to the ballot for his upcoming recall election in September.
Due to an apparent oversight, Newsom’s team failed to meet the February deadline to finalize ballot information. Thomas Willis, attorney for Gov. Newsom, appeared in a Sacremento Superior Court Monday, arguing that the filing deadline is arbitrary and an exception ought to be made here because it is in the best interests if the voters of California. He also insisted that it’s not too late to cause a procedural problem.
Eric Early, counsel opposing Newsome’s motion, countered, “At base this comes down to whether the governor of California has to follow the unambiguous law – and it just so happens, a law that he signed.”
Superior Court Judge James Arguelles agreed with Early, stating that California’s law regarding the deadline is “unambiguous.” He rejected Newsom’s motion.
It is unclear at this point if Newsom plans to appeal the decision. While he certainly retains that right under law, his team will have to decide which option is better from a an optics standpoint – moving forward without a party affiliation on the ballot or continuing to publicize the fact that they made a serious error.
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