Polls close Tuesday in recall vote for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom

Mail-in balloting has been going on for months; Polling stations are opened until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Balloting on whether to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom ends Tuesday.

Critics of the Democratic governor got enough valid signatures this spring on a petition to recall Newsom, with mail-in ballots coming in since last month.

Residents are trying to recall Newsom, and replace with somebody new, in large part over their dissatisfaction with his handling of the pandemic and other issues including the state's homelessness problem and housing shortage.

Though the effort to oust Newsom started strong, the incumbent governor's multi-million dollar ad campaign, the state's decidedly liberal electorate and visits from Democratic Party leaders including President Biden on Monday appear to have helped Newsom save his job.

Poll numbers Tuesday from the pollster fivethirtyeight.com show 57.3% of voters want to keep the governor, while 41.5% want to remove him.