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Over 600 Californians took out papers to become gubernatorial candidates and 247 filed those papers. Of those, 135 were certified by the Secretary of State as having met the requirements to be a candidate.
Of the candidates, the party affiliation breakdown was:
It was a two-question ballot, with the first question being whether the sitting governor should be recalled. The second question was to decide who ought to replace the governor, in case a majority voted yes on the recall question.
The voters of California decided to recall governor Gray Davis by a 5 to 4 margin (55.4% in favor of recall vs. 44.6% against recall). There were more votes for Schwarzenegger than for the next three candidates combined, including fellow Republican McClintock. Voters elected Arnold Schwarzenegger to become Davis's replacement by a pluralityA plurality (or "relative majority") is the largest share of something, which may or may not be a majority. Some elections or types of votes require merely a plurality, while others require a runoff to produce a majority. See also List of democracy and el of 48.6% to runner-up Lt. Gov. Cruz BustamanteCruz Miguel Bustamante (born January 4, 1953) is an American politician. He is currently the Lieutenant Governor of California and a member of the Democratic Party. Bustamante was born in Dinuba, California and attended but dropped out of Fresno City Coll's 31.5%.
Following the election, all 58 of California's counties had 28 days (until November 4November 4 is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 57 days remaining. Events 1576 Eighty Years' War: In Belgium, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city was nearly destroyed). 1612 Moscow China Town tak, 2003) each to conduct a countywide canvass of their votes. Counties used this time to count any absentee ballotIn the United States, an absentee ballot is a ballot that the voter receives and (usually) sends through the mail, rather than travelling to a polling place and marking the ballot at a voting booth. In this context the term "absentee" has no negative conns or provisional ballots not yet counted, to reconcile the number of signatures on the roster of registered voters with the number of ballots recorded on the ballot statement, to count any valid write-in votes, to reproduce any damaged ballots, if necessary, and to conduct a hand count of the ballots cast in 1% of the precincts, chosen at random by the elections official.
Counties then had 7 days from the conclusion of canvassing ( November 11November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. Events 1215 The fourth lateran council meets, adopting the doctrine of transubstantiation, meaning that bread and wine are transformed into t, 2003, 35 days after the election) to submit their final vote totals to the California Secretary of State's office. The Secretary of State had to certify the final statewide vote by 39 days (until November 15) after the election. The vote was officially certified on November 14, 2003. Once the vote was certified, governor-elect Schwarzenegger had to be sworn-in to office within 10 days. His inauguration took place on Monday, November 17, making Schwarzenegger the 38th Governor of California.
Candidates appear with party designations and ballot descriptions as provided by the California Secretary of State. Source of election numbers: California Secretary of State's website