What is a recall petition?

It is a petition where the signatories want an elected official to be removed from their position before the end of that official's term. A successful recall petition will trigger a recall election.

Different states and countries have different rules for how this all works, but usually there is the special recall election, and if it doesn't pass, nothing else happens and the official simply keeps their job. If it passes, the official is removed from their job and, usually, there is then a new election to choose a new person for it.

In the United States, these petitions and elections happen fairly frequently. Sometimes they are successful, as in the case of Governor Gray Davis in California in 2003, which resulted in Arnold Schwarzenegger's subsequent election as governor. And sometimes it's unsuccessful, as in the case of Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin in 2012.