October 2, 2023
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis
Via email
We represent a group of organizations in Alameda County and broadly in California, all actively engaged in voter education and outreach. We are concerned about the current confusion surrounding the process for recall of a County elected official. We hope that the Board will act decisively to ensure that the Alameda County community has clear information about the process and timing for any potential recall.
We request a clear statement that includes the following:
- The number of signatures required for a recall petition
- The number of days proponents have to collect signatures
- The process and timeline for verifying signatures
- The process and timeline for a voter to withdraw their signature
- The process and timeline for setting a date for the recall election, including:
- When and how ballots will be mailed to members of the armed services
- When and how potential candidates file for the office
- Rules for consolidating the election with a regularly scheduled election
- The process and timeline for a special election if the election is not consolidated with a regularly scheduled election
- Links to both the recall procedures from the California Secretary of State, and the Alameda County Charter provisions for recall.
We request that these details be posted in writing on the Alameda County elections website. In addition to this information, we recommend the publication of a general manual of recall procedures on the website. We look forward to receiving clear information that we can share with the Alameda County community.
We also wish to reiterate our ongoing concerns about other election-related issues in Alameda County, which we have previously contacted your office about. These include errors in tallying Ranked Choice Voting results in a local school board election in November 2022, the devastating errors at the Mills College vote center in November 2020, the failure to implement voter-approved youth voting measures in Oakland and Berkeley, last-minute vote center changes in November 2022, a lack of consistent VAAC and LAAC meetings, and issues involving language access and ballot drop boxes in recent elections.
We do not wish for this possible recall to join that list. We respectfully ask that the Registrar of Voters provide greater transparency to the public and engage more consistently with community organizations, civic associations, and good government groups, including ours.
Sincerely,
Alameda County Council of League of Women Voters
California Common Cause
Oakland Rising
Smart Justice
Prosecutors Alliance of California
Cc: County Counsel Donna Ziegler