From a June 13 announcement:
Today, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance to establish an Elections Oversight Commission to oversee all federal, state, district, and municipal elections conducted by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.
Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson (5th District) introduced this ordinance as part of a set of recommendations he made in the aftermath of the November 2022 General Election, when errors in the vote tabulation for several candidates were discovered after certification by the Registrar.
“We are living in a time when the legitimacy of election results are continuously called into question,” said Supervisor Carson. “While the vast majority of results are correct, as the County experienced during last year’s election, errors do occur. Trust in our electoral process is at the heart of our democracy; by establishing this commission, we are ensuring that this process will be more transparent and that issues impacting voting access and vote tabulation will be addressed and corrected in a timely manner.”
The Commission will consist of 13 voting members – five will be selected by the Board of Supervisors; four will be selected by outside organizations (the Alameda County League of Women Voters, a member from a disability rights organization, a member from a voting rights organization, and a member from the ACLU of Northern California); and four at-large members representing impacted communities will be nominated by the Commission. The Board of Supervisors intends to begin making appointments to the Commission at the Aug. 1, 2023 board meeting.
Those who are interested in being appointed to the Elections Commission should submit an application via the County’s Boards, Commissions, & Committees online portal: acgov.org/bnc/#/home. The link for the new commission is expected be live and available to accept applications by the week of June 19.
I assume this grew out of the complexity and alternate interpretations with Ranked Choice Voting in Oakland.
Other than that there may not be a lot of need for another County commission. I had thought the confusion with RCV was great enough to cause Oakland to switch back to runoffs.