Late Wednesday afternoon, attorney Harmeet K. Dhillon announced that a California judge has ordered Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber to include Republican Larry Elder on the final ballot for the September 14 gubernatorial recall election.
The ruling applies to two concurrent suits brought against Weber to remedy the fact that Elder was left off Monday’s preliminary list of candidate names. Dhillon and her colleague attorney Mark Meuser represented California voter Betty Chu while Larry Elder was represented by attorney Steve Baric:
The hearing in the Larry Elder and voter Betty Tom Chu matters (my firm represents the latter) may be seen here: https://t.co/rxRMayfrHL
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) July 21, 2021
The judge opened the hearing “with a tentative ruling that the tax return disclosure requirement doesn’t seem to apply to recall elections,” tweeted Dhillon, “and if it did, Larry Elder substantially complied with it.”
Related: Larry Elder Comes Out Swinging, “We Will See Them in Court
It was noted that Elder provided the secretary of state’s office with more than 300 pages of both personal and corporate financial documents when he submitted his candidate papers. His attorneys argued that the redaction portion of the election statute is there to protect the candidate’s privacy. So why does the state care how it was redacted or not?
“The court’s tentative [ruling] covers the matter [for Betty Chu] and [Elder] will respond if necessary,” said Dhillon, citing Meuser. Meanwhile, the State’s lawyer argued that the recall election should be run the same way as other elections. The judge did not agree and issued the inclusion order:
Judge orders California to include Larry Elder on the ballot in California recall election. Says tax returns were never required in the first place for a recall as opposed to a primary election.
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) July 21, 2021
The ruling means Larry Elder’s name will be included on the final candidate list later today and the final list will then be sent to the printer as per state law. The election to recall California’s Governor Gavin Newsom will be held on September 14.
For everyone–except the secretary of state, her lawyer, and the Democrats–this order is a win. It’s definitely a win for The Sage of South Central who has the constitutional right to be on the ballot and for California voters, who have the right to have qualified candidates to choose from in September.
