Bid to Recall Gov. John Bel Edwards Still Short of Signatures as Deadline Approaches
If Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards is going to be recalled, a significant amount of signatures would need to be collected in the next month.
The effort to recall Edwards began on August 31, 2020 when two Eunice men filed a petition to have the two-term Democrat governor removed from office. They had 180 days from that date to collect enough signatures.
In order for Edwards to be removed from office, 20% of the state's registered voters must sign the petition. That would equate to about 600,000 registered voters.
As of now, the petition has collected over 130,000 signatures from seven parishes.
One of the recall supporters, Chris Fontenot, told KLFY why people are signing the petition.
“All of us really understand wanting to protect life. Specifically first in the pandemic, but the hypocrisy of this is when you close a church and leave a casino open.”
Fontenot said there has been overwhelming support to have the governor removed, and it doesn't necessarily fall along party lines.
“It shows people of Louisiana that we can come together under a common cause to promote the state in a positive matter regardless of those political lines. The best way to do what you can is to help the most amount of people as possible,” Fontenot said.
Only two governors have been recalled in the history of the United States. In 1921, Lynn Frazier of North Dakota was recalled during a dispute about state-owned industries. And in 2003, California Governor Gray Davis was recalled over the state budget.