Recalls up in the air; Alameda Co Registrar of Voters warns it's too soon to call

OAKLAND, Calif. - Even though votes are still being counted, organizers behind the recall efforts for Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price are celebrating a victory, as preliminary numbers appear to prove they will be ousted.

Fox News is predicting the recalls were successful, but the Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis said with only 23% of the votes counted, it’s too soon to call.

While the future of the two leaders hangs in the balance, Dupuis said it could be a couple of weeks before they finalize the results as poll workers sort through hundreds of thousands of ballots.

"The process of the vote by mail takes time, we have to take a look at the signatures, we have to sort them in precinct order, we got to open them and remove the ballots," said Dupuis.

As of Wednesday, the preliminary numbers show a majority of the 49,000 counted ballots in Oakland are for ousting Thao. Similarly, nearly 65% of about 200,000 county-wide voters want Price gone, with both races at a 30% margin.

Oakland Action Rising endorsed both candidates during the 2022 elections and is against the recalls.

Interim Executive Director of Oakland Action Rising Pecolia Mangio said, "Primarily because they stood on a platform that aligned with our values are really looking at multiple strategies to address public safety, not just the zero-tolerance policies of the past."

Mangio said there’s still work for them to do and thinks the vote counts could flip in their favor.

Brenda Grisham with SAFE, who led the recall effort against Price and supports the recall of Thao, said she expects the votes for the recalls will continue to grow. 

"That’s a pretty big lead. There’s quite a few that still need to be counted, but that’s not going to flip," she said.

Dupuis said it could take a couple of weeks before they get through all the ballots, with only one third of them counted so far.

"We had about 23% that we’ve been able to post, about 233,000 votes since last night, that includes our early votes, vote by mail that we got in early plus about 70,000 in person votes," said Dupuis. 

He said there’s still at least 500,000 ballots left to count, and anything could happen.

Dupuis said the registrar’s office will post an update on the ballots on Thursday and Friday.

In a statement sent by DA Price’s campaign spokesperson, Price said, "I am optimistic that when all the votes are counted, we will be able to continue the hard work of transforming our criminal justice system."

Thao’s office said she’s waiting for clarity before making a statement, because the race hasn’t been called yet and there are still a lot of ballots left to be counted.