California Gov. Gavin Newsom to face a recall election after GOP-led effort collects enough signatures

• Gov. Gavin Newsom will face a recall election after a GOP-led effort reached its signature goal.
• Organizers submitted more than 1.6 million verified voter signatures.
• Caitlyn Jenner announced her gubernatorial campaign in the state last week.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California will face a recall election after a GOP-led effort to oust the governor reached its signature goal, state officials announced Monday.

Organizers met the threshold to force a special recall election after submitting more than 1.6 million verified voter signatures from California's 58 counties, according to a preliminary report released Monday.

Some signatures still need to be verified, and the final report will be released on Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

If Secretary of State Shirley Weber certifies the petition and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis schedules the election, the LA Times reported, voters will be tasked with deciding whether to recall Newsom. If more than half of respondents say yes, voters must vote on who will replace Newsom. If the recall passes, Newsom is barred from being listed among the candidates.

Newsom will face a statewide vote by the end of the year. In a poll of 1,174 likely voters by the Public Policy Institute of California, most respondents said they opposed ousting Newsom from office - with 56% of respondents saying they didn't support the recall and 40% saying they did.

News of the recall election comes after Caitlyn Jenner announced her gubernatorial campaign in the state last week.

The recall campaign's success in reaching its signature goal marks the second time in the state's history that a governor has faced a recall election. California recalled its governor was in 2003, ousting Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and replacing him with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.