I chatted up a paid signature gatherer yesterday (he didn’t know who I was). When I asked how things were going, he said great; people are eager to sign. I remarked that getting 100,000 signatures seems like an uphill battle and he replied, “Oh, no, not for professional signature gatherers. We’ll have that by the end of this month.” That sounds optimistic, but I liked his confidence.
Then he added that a lot of people who sign tell him they originally voted for Price but wish to recall her now that they see what kind of person she is.
But there’s a looming cloud: A report in yesterday’s East Bay Insiders newsletter contains some potential complications for the Recall. It notes that two of Alameda County’s recall provisions seriously differ from California’s own provisions, which makes the former’s unconstitutional. The first is that the county requires that petition circulators be registered voters in Alameda County, whereas State law requires only that petition circulators be at least 18 years old. The second is that Alameda County requires “that a voter must register a vote on both the recall question and specific candidate to replace the recalled county official in order for the vote to be counted. State law makes no mention of replacement candidates appearing on the ballot.”
According to the East Bay Insiders newsletter, these contradictions mean that “a ballot measure on the Mar. 5 primary [may be required] in order to ask voters to change Section 62 of the [Alameda] County Charter and essentially align its recall provisions with state election law.” The Alameda County Registrar of Voters (ROV) recently noted, on its website, “The Board of Supervisors intends to place a measure on the ballot at the next election to ask the voters to amend the Charter’s recall provisions by adopting, in their entirety, the Elections Code [i.e, the State’s] recall procedures.” But it added, “Until then, the ROV will follow the procedure outlined in this Guide unless a court orders otherwise.”
This is certainly a wrinkle, and it’s made even more menacing by reports that Price supporters could “turn their sights not only on thwarting voters from signing the recall petition, but also seeking to oppose the proposed charter amendment that could be coming to the March Primary ballot.”
There can be little question that Price will do anything she can to stay in office. After all, Price was raised on the Black Power slogan “by any means necessary,” up to and including lawbreaking and violence. She is a lawyer, and presumably could delay and obstruct the Recall for years. It sounds like this is shaping up to be very ugly. All we can do in the meanwhile is continue to gather signatures, work to educate the public on the danger Madame D.A. poses to the public, and keep our fingers crossed.
Have a wonderful, safe weekend! Back on Monday.
Steve Heimoff