Alameda County supervisors direct reluctant registrar to release cast vote records

Wild Board of Supervisors meeting includes Carson telling deputy county counsel, "Don't daddy me!" Plus, campaign finance data and Legislative finance report capsules

COUNTY NEWS

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

—‘DON’T DADDY ME’—A cast vote record will be available to Alameda County residents on Election Night, a major victory for advocates of election transparency.

—The policy change approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, however, came after the registrar of voters and county counsel expressed uncertainty about whether the release of the anonymous digital representation of ballots casts put the registrar in legal jeopardy.

—The new policy calls for Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis to release a vote cast record for every race in Alameda County at the end of vote tabulations on Election Night, and each subsequent day updates of the vote are released.

—Dupuis and county counsel believed releasing the cast vote records may violate Senate Bill 1328, legislation authored by State Sen. Steven Bradford, and signed into law earlier this month.

—Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and a number of public commenters viewed the law differently. A member of Bradford’s office told Carson that criminal penalties for releasing cast vote records is not part of SB 1328.

—Dupuis, though, continued to resist calls for the timely release of the cast vote record on Tuesday, citing a lack of staffing to create a new procedure, in addition to timing. Election Day is less than one month away.

—In order to accomplish the task, Dupuis told the board, he would need technical support from Dominion Voting Systems, the county’s election vendor.

—But, just prior to the board approving the new policy, Dupuis appeared to call up a Hail Mary in hopes of revising the motion. (Watch the video clip above.)

—Supervisor Nate Miley later asked Dupuis if he will able to comply with the new policy. “I will have to make every effort to meet this,” Dupuis responded. “It’s a heavy lift that you're putting on our plate at a busy time.”

—The clamor for the early release of cast vote records over the past two years comes after Dupuis’ office certified the wrong winner in a 2022 ranked-choice voting race for the Oakland school board.

—Voter integrity advocates believe the ability for third parties and the public to peruse the cast vote record would have identified the problem with the county’s ranked choice voting algorithm before certification of the vote.

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