Charter amendment adds uncertainty to Price recall campaign
County supe on recall campaign: 'What rules will they be playing under?'; St. Rose Hospital's future is dependant on affiliating with another health care provider, study finds; Jesse Arreguin's poll
COUNTY NEWS
CHARTER AMENDMENTS
—COUNTY CONFUSION—The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to place a charter amendment on the March Primary ballot that aims to update recall provisions just as a recall campaign against Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has already commenced.
—The forthcoming charter ballot amendment will align the county’s rules for recalling county officials with state election law. The charter amendment will require a simple majority of support to pass.
—But the change in the middle of an ongoing recall could complicate the campaign’s efforts.
—Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE) began seeking signatures for its recall petition two weeks ago.
—SAFE received guidance from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters that more than 73,000 valid signatures are required to place the recall question on a future ballot.
—“What rules will they be playing under?” Supervisor David Haubert said about the Price recall campaign.
—Alameda County Counsel Donna Ziegler told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the county charter has different standards than state election law when it comes to provisions for a recall.
—When pressed by a supervisor if the charter amendment could change the rules under which the Price recall effort is currently operating, Ziegler said, “It may impact what happens next.”
—The worst-case scenario could be the impacts include a greater number of valid signatures required to put the recall on the ballot.
—The timeframes for conducting and verifying a recall election within the current charter was created nearly a century ago when the county was much smaller, Ziegler said.
—If the charter amendment is not placed on the March ballot, Ziegler told the Board, “We could face the possibility of asking the registrar to conduct a recall based on provisions established in 1926 when this world, not just this county, was a very different place.”
—Also, Ziegler acknowledged that embattled Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis indicated to her that his office cannot comply with the current provisions as stated in the charter, such as the number of days allowed for verifying signatures and for calling an recall election.
—Over the past year, Dupuis has used similar excuses in response to efforts to recount ranked choice voting ballots from the November 2022 elections and implementation of a county Election Commission.
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