After securing enough signatures to let voters decide if Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price should stay in office, the group behind the recall is now calling on the board of supervisors to set a special election date for July or August.
“The recall of Pamela Price is real, it's coming. This is it, and what we are waiting for now is to set up the date,” Carl Chan of SAFE said.
“We don’t need to wait until November. There is not a timeline on life,” Brenda Grisham of SAFE said. “And waiting till November is not an option. We need her to go right now.”
Recall supporters believe the board of supervisors should have already set a date during last week's meeting.
The board did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s request for comment on that issue Tuesday, but the registrar of voters claims state law meeting requirements prevented the item from being discussed until April 30 to allow time for public notice.
Supporters of Price also showed up at Tuesday's rally calling a special election is a waste of taxpayer money.
They say they believe Price is delivering on her promises of accountability and justice while addressing over incarceration rates, calling this pure politics.
“Justice isn’t just about locking somebody up for a crime, it’s about getting it right. It’s about having the proper evidence to convict somebody,” Jennifer Zilliac, volunteer with Protect the Win Campaign, said.
“The crime problem will not be solved by this scapegoating by our district attorney who actually is doing a lot for public safety,” Rivka Polatnick, volunteer with Protect the Win Campaign, said.
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But victims’ families like Patricia Harris and James Purvis -- whose 28-year-old son Jarin was killed in 2020 -- say despite voting for price initially, they now believe her policies failed to get justice for their family.
Instead, they say the person responsible for their son’s death got reduced charges and has already been released.
“Her words are not her actions. Fairness is fairness but not to the extreme of just letting everything go,” Harris said. “There is a difference for looking out for people that are being treated unjustly versus what she is doing now.”
It's why recall supporters say they're pushing so hard for an immediate election date
“She has caused so much hurt, harm and damage to Alameda County that any day that goes past is one day too many,” Harris said.
