At a press conference, organizers announced that the effort has gathered 1.95 million signatures in support of the recall more than a week ahead of the March 17 deadline. The recall movement leaders said they still plan to try to reach 2 million before that date.

“That is more than enough to be able to have this initiative qualified for a special election later this year to let the people finally decide … what is gonna happen with the fate and the future of California Gov. Gavin Newsom,” Randy Economy, a political adviser working on the effort, said.

“Californians are consistently becoming more disgruntled with how their state’s run,” he added.

Elections officials will have to confirm that almost 1.5 million of these signatures come from registered California voters before triggering the special election.