SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – San Francisco’s District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, will now officially face a recall election on June 7 of next year.

This comes after the department of elections certified a petition on Tuesday seeking his removal from office.

It’s been a long back and forth battle between the two sides on this issue. However, those campaigning against Chesa Boudin were able to gather much more than the 51,000 signatures to move this recall forward. 

Now campaigns in support of Boudin are gearing up in hopes of keeping him in office.

The San Francisco Department of Elections verified enough signatures to move forward with a recall of Boudin.

Those campaigning to remove Boudin from office submitted 83,000 signatures, roughly 32,000 more than required to put the measure on the ballot.

John Arntz with the Department of Elections explains what voters can expect in the special election on June 7.

“Voters will not see a list of candidates to potentially replace the person who’s being asked whether to be recalled or not so in San Francisco will decide the question, yes or no, and then if the recall is successful then the Mayor appoints someone to fill the vacancy,” Arntz said. 

The recall came into question after growing concerns over public safety and criticism of Boudin’s handling of several high-profile cases.

“The root issue is that of accountability. Look, San Franciscans are for and have supported and many of us have worked toward advancing real criminal justice reform that is responsive and responsible and in this district attorney, he has made a choice to move forward in what he considers justice reform efforts without attending to the issues of accountability and public safety,” Andrea Shorter said.

While Andrea Shorter with the Safer San Francisco Without Boudin Campaign feels that Boudin has not done enough to prosecute repeat offenders and other criminals, Boudin backer Zaki Shaheen argues this recall is anti-democratic as the district attorney has followed through on his campaign promises.

“Crime in San Francisco is not a new phenomenon that began when Chesa Boudin took office in the beginning of 2020. Unfortunately, our opposition has a goal so they’ve been able to create rhetoric that he is responsible for crime in the city and when we look at the statistics, crime has gone down in almost every major category,” Zaki Shaheen said.

If voters decide to remove Chesa Boudin from office in June, Mayor London Breed would then appoint an interim replacement until a permanent district attorney could be elected next November.