Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis certified the election in favor of Nick Resnick but later realized voting machines were configured incorrectly and said that Mike Hutchinson really won the race. Hutchinson finished third in the certified results.
Because the election was certified, Hutchinson must take the matter to the court and let it decide who won the race. The March 16 trial is expected to last a day or less in the courtroom of Judge Brad Seligman.
Resnick is defending his win, arguing that the way votes are tallied in ranked-choice voting in Oakland is unconstitutional, an attorney for Hutchinson said in an interview.
Hutchinson's attorney Beverly Grossman Palmer called it a "Hail Mary argument."
Grossman Palmer said all the other jurisdictions in the Bay Area use the same method that the Alameda County Registrar of Voters should have used in the November election.
She added that if Resnick succeeds in his challenge, "it would be a fairly significant change to the way ranked choice voting is run,"
No other election outcome in Alameda County changed because of the incorrect machine setting.
More than 26,000 people cast a vote for a candidate in the District 4 school board race.
