Slow election results prompt rally to remove Alameda County registrar of voters

An angry group of about 15 people stood outside the Alameda County Administration Building Tuesday, chanting: “Voters deserve better,” and “We deserve better,” as they called for the dismissal of registrar of voters Tim Dupuis. 

The group called on the Board of Supervisors to remove Dupuis, accusing him of mishandling ranked-choice voting counts and mismanaging election resources. Mostly, they questioned why votes take so long to count in Alameda County, where regular updates were slow after the Nov. 5 election and often added only a trickle of new votes. 

“Many people are disgusted with delays of election processes,” said Edward Escobar, the founder of Citizens Unite and one of the demonstration’s organizers. “Alameda County has become the butt of a joke throughout the state of California. It can’t conclude its elections within a timely manner.”

Dupuis did not respond Tuesday or Wednesday to Oakland North’s request for comment. 

Supervisors President Nate Miley was not available for comment, according to his office, which referred calls to Vice President David Haubert. Shawn Wilson, Haubert’s chief of staff, declined to comment, saying in an email, “Out of respect to Mr. Dupuis and any other County Staff, discussing personnel issues with the press is not something we would do.”

Last month, Dupuis told KQED that if the goal is to speed up the count, his office could use
more staff or equipment, or better facilities. In the same article, Supervisor Keith Carson said that Dupuis had assured him that the registrar’s office had enough workers to handle the November election.  “Unfortunately, that appears not to be the case,” Carson said. 

Mark Zulum, who represented the Election Integrity Task Force of Alameda County at the rally, said voters need more transparency. He wants the board to reorganize the registrar’s office, and added, “It should start from the top. Mr. Dupuis must be removed.”

Dupuis has held the position since 2012. In 2022, his office certified the wrong winner in an Oakland Unified School District board race, which prompted a lawsuit. The actual winner, Mike Hutchinson, was sworn in on time. The registrar’s office said then that the election computer system had erred in calculating ranked-choice votes.

Tuesday’s demonstrators said they will hold more rallies if the supervisors don’t act on their request. 

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