Supporters of Alameda County DA claim recall signatures are fraudulent
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price's "Protect the Win" campaign claimed Monday some of the signatures gathered in the recall effort were done fraudulently. They showed evidence they gathered which shows collection tables with no collector, and said someone could have tampered with the petition. They also claim some signature collectors were not from the county. Alameda county charter requires them to be from the county.
"We have extensive evidence that we have collected from our volunteers, from citizens, people who live in Alameda County who have come to us with these claims," said William Fitzgerald, with the Protect the Win campaign. "This is even more important today because every single signature is under increased scrutiny."
Leaders from the recall effort submitted over 120,000 signatures to the county registrar's office. They need just over 73,000 valid signatures to force a special election. Leaders from the recall effort were not available for an interview but said in a statement:
"A broad coalition of Alameda County residents, business owners, victims, victims' families, and concerned citizens of our community have come together to keep our community safe. We are awaiting signature validation from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters and confident the process will confirm the results of the recall."
MORE: Organizers of Alameda Co. DA Pamela Price recall campaign welcome manual count of signatures
The Protect the Win campaign said they will not file a lawsuit against the recall effort, but they did already send a letter to Attorney General Rob Bonta asking his office to investigate. They say the Attorney General has not responded.
Now, the campaign plans to send a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Northern California District asking them to look into the petition. Members with the campaign say this recall effort is an attack on criminal justice reform.
"This is a broken system," said Pecolia Manigo, political director with Oakland Rising Action. "We don't expect DA Price to fix it in one year, but we also believe that honoring the majority vote is really critical."
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