A week after Alameda County announced that a computer error had incorrectly decided a local school board race, officials still had not explained how they plan to address the voting snafu or whether they intend to swear in the rightful winner.
On Dec. 28, election officials said the error had led to a miscount across all ranked-choice contests in the county’s November elections. New calculations reversed one race: Mike Hutchinson, a current board member, defeated Nick Resnick, the CEO of an education company, who was previously declared the winner of the tightly contested seat.
Hutchinson and his attorney met with county election officials Tuesday afternoon, but, according to Hutchinson, the officials did not specify how they plan to resolve the matter.
“I am hopeful that once people are satisfied with the official results, they will honor the will of the voters,” Hutchinson said in an interview Tuesday.
Hutchinson said he intends to file a petition this week contesting the election results, but worried it could lead to a costly and protracted legal battle that his “grassroots” campaign is ill-equipped to handle.
An attorney representing Resnick, James Sutton, said the reversal of results gives rise to “legal concerns.”
“We are not aware of any legal authority… which allows the registrar’s office to retabulate election results or take any other actions vis-a-vis the results of an election after it completes the official canvass and the results are certified by the local governing body,” the attorney wrote in a letter to the registrar’s office. Resnick provided the Chronicle with a copy of the letter.
Tim Dupuis, the county registrar, has not responded to requests for comment since the results of the recount were announced late last month. The California secretary of state’s office, tasked with overseeing elections, also did not reply to questions about how the matter would be resolved.