Print this article Amid some of the most restrictive lockdowns in the entire nation, California is suffering an explosion of coronavirus cases. Los Angeles County records a new coronavirus death every eight minutes, but a new case every six seconds, a mathematical combination that means the worst is yet to come. And it's not just that the pandemic is worsening in spite of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s economically ruinous regulations. The surge might actually be happening because of them. With this backdrop, and not long after Newsom was found to be partying in violation of his own lockdown edicts, a petition to recall Newsom from office has aggregated more than 1 million signatures. If the petitioners can obtain another 500,000 valid signatures by March, they will be able to force a special recall election, exactly like the one that ousted Gov. Gray Davis in November 2003.