Los Angeles (AFP) - California voters were deciding Tuesday whether to oust their Democratic governor, in a recall spurred by Republicans angered by mask mandates and Covid-19 lockdowns.

Gavin Newsom, who was elected by a landslide in November 2018, is widely expected to survive the quirky recall election, fending off a field of 46 challengers.

Newsom's main opponent is Larry Elder, 69, a right-wing talk radio star, who has openly supported ex-president Donald Trump.

Before polls even closed, Elder took a page out of Trump's 2020 election playbook, launching a website alleging voter fraud and demanding state officials "investigate and ameliorate the twisted results" of the election.

The ballot asks firstly if 53-year-old Newsom should be fired, and secondly who should replace him.

To remain in office, Newsom needs to win more than 50 percent of the vote. If he fails to reach that threshold, the challenger with the highest vote total -- no matter how small the number -- becomes governor.

After a shaky start, the telegenic former mayor of San Francisco looks set to survive. Poll-crunching website fivethirtyeight.com predicted on Tuesday that 57.3 percent will vote to keep him.

A large mail-in vote that has already been pre-processed means preliminary results may come as soon as an hour after polls close at 0300 GMT.

Newsom, who shared a stump with President Joe Biden on Monday, warned a vote against him could allow Trump-supporting Republicans to take charge of this most liberal of states.

"Trumpism is still on the ballot in California," he said.

'Get rid'

Elder, a Black ex-lawyer is polling atop a field of hopefuls that includes a cannabis consultant, a former San Diego mayor, reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner and a self-proclaimed "Billboard Queen."

The recall initiative, which has cost the state some $280 million, is one of 55 such efforts to depose a governor in state history.

Mostly they go nowhere, but pandemic measures Newsom imposed gave this attempt legs.

Recall boosters complain the rules unnecessarily kept children home from school and suffocated small businesses.

The petition to remove him gathered pace after he was snapped having dinner at a swanky restaurant, seemingly in breach of his own Covid-19 rules, fueling a perception he was an out-of-touch hypocrite.

Mary Beth, a 63-year-old business owner casting her ballot Tuesday in Los Angeles, said she voted to "get rid of Newsom" because "the virus created chaos in our economy but he made it even worse with his lockdowns."

"There were other ways to handle that and he should have made businesses the priority," she said.

Another pro-recall voter told AFP he wanted someone who would not impose vaccine mandates -- a hot button issue throughout the divided United States.

"I feel very strongly that we need to get rid of our governor because I think he's just a corrupt Democrat, like the people we have in the federal government and we need them out," said Farid Efraim.

"We need somebody who really represents the people."

Democrats complain the Republican-led recall is an attempt to hijack the state's government: seizing power in extraordinary circumstances when they could never do it in a regular ballot.

A poll by Spectrum News and IPSOS published Tuesday found two-thirds of registered voters view the recall as a political power grab.

'Ridiculous'

Although Newsom won handily in 2018, California's electoral rules set the recall bar low.

Malcontents need only gather signatures equivalent to 12 percent of the number of people who voted in the last election -- in this case, 1.5 million. 

California's population is around 40 million.

"This whole recall is ridiculous," said Jake, a 38-year-old tech industry worker voting Tuesday, who preferred not to give his last name.

"I did the math and even if every registered voter turns out, it would cost more than $12 per vote," he said. 

"A lot of people could have had a breakfast with that this morning."

Vance Hagins said the recall process was an abuse.

"You have 40 people running for governor, half of them are nuts and have no chance at all of winning, yet their names are on the ballot, wasting our time," he said.

The only successful California recall brought bodybuilder-turned-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to office in 2003.

"The Governator," who ended up running the state for more than seven years, was California's last Republican chief executive.