Alameda County Registrar to Hand Recount 123K Signatures in Effort to Recall Soros-Backed District Attorney Pamela Price

Alameda County election officials in California announced Thursday a move to a full manual count of signatures submitted in the recall petition against District Attorney Pamela Price.

The decision comes after a “random sampling” of the 123,374 signatures handed in on March 4th failed to conclusively determine if the campaign had gathered enough support to trigger a recall election.

The recall organizers need at least 73,195 valid signatures for the recall to proceed, a number they hoped to surpass with the submissions. Tim Dupuis, Alameda County Registrar of Voters, explained the necessity of the manual count in a statement.

Tim Dupuis released the following statement:

On March 4, 2024, the Registrar of Voters (ROV) received 123,374 signatures supporting the petition to recall the County of Alameda District Attorney. Using the random sampling method authorized by state law, the ROV conducted a signature count.

The results of the random sampling are not sufficient to
determine whether the signature threshold to call for a recall election has been met. A total of 73,195 signatures are needed. As required by state law, the ROV will now begin a manual count of the verified signatures submitted.

State law requires the ROV to rely upon a manual count of the verified signatures in this situation because the random sampling technique did not produce a statistically confident determination of the sufficiency of the petition.

A manual count of the verified signatures will ensure that everyone can be confident about the ROV’s determination of the sufficiency of the recall petition, and it is in the best interests of the proponents of the recall, the target of the recall and the public, generally, that the signatures are counted reliably.

Despite the setback, the recall campaign is bound by state law to continue, with election officials having until early May to complete the signature count. This time frame will determine whether the recall campaign can proceed to the next phase or if it will falter under the scrutiny of manual verification.

Price, who unsuccessfully ran for the District Attorney position in 2018 with significant financial support from billionaire George Soros, managed to secure the office in the 2022 elections.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, shortly after her inauguration, Price appointed his boyfriend Cloird as a “senior program specialist” with an annual salary of $115,502. This decision was made without public disclosure of their personal relationship, which is reportedly an “open secret” among office staff.

This appointment comes amid a significant uptick in crime rates within Oakland, Alameda County’s largest city. Under Price’s leadership, the city has experienced a surge in violent crime, prompting outcry and concern from the community and officials alike.

The San Francisco Chronicle highlights that Oakland’s violent crime rate has surpassed that of eight comparable cities, raising questions about the efficacy of Price’s policies and leadership.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, throughout her tenure, Price has pledged to reform the criminal justice system, a stance that has polarized voters and heightened tensions within the community.

Her controversial decisions include making gang members who were involved in the death of a toddler during a freeway gun battle eligible for parole, reducing the sentence for a convicted triple murderer, and imposing a mere seven-year sentence on a teenager linked to three homicides.