With newly elected Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) already causing a firestorm in the state over TOPS funding and some of the largest tax hikes, social media users have begun an online petition for a recall election of the governor.

Below, the Hayride has compiled three simple steps on how to officially recall the governor.

STEP #1: START WITH THE STATEWIDE OFFICIAL RECALL PETITION FORM

First, residents must obtain a copy of the “Statewide Official Recall Petition Form” at the Louisiana Secretary of State website. Then, a copy of the recall petition must be filed with secretary of state’s office by the chairman of the recall committee prior to entering any signatures.

Once the first signature is obtained, the recall petition becomes a public record with the chairman or vice chairman, when acting as the chairman, as custodian. After the petition is submitted to the registrar of voters for certification, the chairman or vice chairman, when acting as the chairman, shall no longer be the custodian.

STEP #2: GETTING THE SIGNATURES

Signatures seem like the easiest part of a recall petition, but they most certainly are not in a statewide recall. In Louisiana, every signature must be handwritten.

Additionally, the petition must be signed by 33 and 1/3 of the qualified electors of the voting area wherein a recall election is petitioned. This would mean there would need to be at least roughly 972,000 signatures on the recall petition in order to recall the governor.

Already, the online petition to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to recall Gov. Edwards has 15,355 signatures and it’s growing by the day. That number, though, would have to be increased rapidly if a successful recall is expected. And a ‘Recall John Bel Edwards‘ public Facebook group has nearly 7,000 members thus far.

STEP #3: FOLLOWING THE FINE PRINT