Recount is dead

More troubles for registrar: Oakland, Berkeley voter-approved youth voting in school board elections may not happen in 2024

Alameda County Board of Supervisor Nate Miley is no fan of ranked choice voting, but even he saw no path for a recount.

COUNTY NEWS

ALAMEDA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

—RE-CAN’T—A recount of three contested ranked-choice voting elections last year in Oakland and San Leandro died on Tuesday. The cause of death was a lack of political expediency.

—Alameda County Supervisors made it clear during an update on the proposed recount that it will never happen. In effect, it’s time to move on, Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said, and Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis agreed.

—“We’ve run aground,” Dupuis said of the effort to institute a recount of last fall’s Oakland mayoral race and San Leandro’s mayoral and city council race. “We don’t see a legal way to do it.”

—Meanwhile, Dupuis and the Board of Supervisors said they are moving on to preparations for the 2024 election cycle.

—Since January, the Board of Supervisors have routinely invited Dupuis to address the fallout of last fall’s election debacle. At every appearance, the embattled registrar has repeatedly suggested there is no legal avenue for his office to recount ballots that were certified in December.

—Through it all, it remains unclear what a recount would have accomplished other than identify deficiencies in the county’s election systems.

—Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez, both who won narrow come-from-behind ranked-choice victories last November have presiding over city government for four months, and most of their city’s electorate have accepted the results.

MORE INSIDE:

• Supervisors praise registrar, but questions are beginning to show

• Teenagers in Oakland, Berkeley may not be able to vote in 2024

• New supervisor takes oath