The effort to recall Alameda County DA Pamela Price now has an election date set, but recall supporters are not happy that it won’t be for another six months, and instead of a one-off special election it will be November 5.
In an odd way, it's actually a win for Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price that her recall election, which qualified for the ballot in April, is now officially scheduled for November 5, according to KTVU. Recall organizers were pushing for an earlier special election date in July or August, as lower-turnout elections tend to favor the recall. But the November 5 date, which is also the presidential election, will have a much higher Democratic turnout that would be likely to favor Price. And the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 Tuesday to set that recall election on November 5 (Alameda County has five supervisors, but two were absent Tuesday).
Their decision was a simple matter of cost. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis told the supervisors that a special election would cost as much as $20 million, whereas consolidating this into the main November 5 election would only cost the county $4 million.
The recall crowd, which blames Price for Oakland crime, was disappointed. “What’s the cost of life? Is there really a price?” recall supporter Elizabeth Kenney said before Tuesday’s vote, according to the Chronicle. “How many more people will pay with their lives?”
But Price’s supporters were relieved. “The recall of DA Pamela Price is funded by deep-pocketed donors who have spent millions of dollars on paid signature gatherers to qualify for the ballot,” Prosecutors Alliance Action executive director Cristine Soto Deberry said in a statement to KRON4. (Soto Deberry was once Chesa Boudin’s chief of staff.) “We are glad that today, the Board of Supervisors decided to do the right thing and save taxpayers millions by putting the recall election on the November ballot. This will ensure that the most voters possible will have their voice heard in this important decision about the future of public safety in the county.”
As the Chronicle notes, this recall effort started just seven months into Price’s term. And while the effort collected 123,000 signatures, a remarkable 48,600 of those were disqualified. But the effort still squeaked in with a margin of just 1,500 signatures over the required 74,000, though Price supporters have also claimed that many signature gatherers were from out of county, which is a violation of election law.
Tweet less. Prosecute more. https://t.co/S2OB0kaw52
— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) May 14, 2024
And strangely, amidst all this, Price’s campaign is engaged in some bizarro Twitter spat with East Bay congressional Rep. Eric Swalwell. As Politico points out, Swalwell used to work for previous Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley, and O’Malley has donated money to the recall effort.
If Price is recalled, the county’s supervisors would choose her successor.
Price’s supporters do have fresh statistics saying crime is down 33% in Oakland compared to this time last year. But they’re going to have to hope that trend continues through November 5, and more importantly, that voters notice it.
Update: At a press event Wednesday evening, Price said of her supporters, per ABC 7, "You will see them fundraising, organizing. Doing what we have to do to protect the win. And my part, is to do my job."
Image: @AlamedaCountyDA via Twitter
