The campaign seeking to recall District Attorney George Gascón announced that it has raised over 500,000 signatures as of May 31. The campaign must collect 566,857 verified signatures by July 6 in order to qualify for the November General Election ballot — a number equal to 10% of all current registered voters. The question of whether or not to recall Gascón has become a political litmus test in the Beverly Hills City Council race, with nearly every candidate supporting the effort. Candidates and other city officials have claimed that Gascón’s progressive policies have contributed to an uptick in crime, which has risen on the local as well as national level.

Officials with the recall campaign have acknowledged that simply meeting the 566,000 threshold will not suffice, as signatures will inevitably be discarded in the verification process. Tim Lineberger, spokesperson for Recall District Attorney George Gascón, previously told the Courier that the campaign will likely need closer to 800,000 signatures. As the campaign faces its last month to collect signatures, it has sent out millions of recall petitions directly to registered voters in the county. “Right now, the recall petition is in the mailboxes of 3.6 million registered voters in LA County,” the campaign said in a statement. “If just 5% sign and promptly return the petition, we will have more than enough signatures to not only clear the threshold, but also to ensure there is enough cushion for those that are inevitably invalidated.”