& Freedom party candidates. But while running for the State Senate, Perata was also on the ballot for re-election to the California State Assembly—and in that race he easily defeated Republican Linda Marshall. Since he could not legally hold a seat in both houses of the legislature, Perata announced on November 4 that he would resign his Assembly seat as soon as possible. Therefore, a special election was called for Perata's Assembly seat on February 2, 1999. California State Assembly special election Perata represented the 16th Assembly district, which covered most of Oakland, Piedmont, and Alameda. Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris (who had represented the district from 1977-1991 in the state Assembly) entered the race, and was heavily supported by the California Democratic Party establishment. However, Oakland lawyer Frank Russo, a Democrat, also entered the race and received significant support from Democrats who were disenchanted with Harris. Audie Bock, a Green Party candidate, also entered the race. On February 2, with a 19.5 percent voter turnout, Harris finished first with 49% of the vote. Frank Russo came in second place with 37% and Audie Bock received 8.7% of the vote. Harris came up just a few thousand votes short of an outright majority. As in the State Senate election, California law required a run-off election between the top finishers of each political party. A special run-off election was called for Tuesday, March 30, 1999 between Harris as the Democratic Party candidate, and Audie Bock as the Green Party candidate. Since Russo was a Democrat like Harris, he was eliminated. Run-off Harris was initially an overwhelming favorite to win. Not only was he the former mayor of Oakland and the district's former assemblyman, but he had almost won the February election outright. Additionally, Audie Bock had received only 8.7% of the vote in the February election. Harris was so sure he would win that he spent Election Day in Sacramento negotiating his committee assignments. But the California Democratic Party made a mistake that arguably created one of the biggest upsets in local political history. In an effort to boost voter turnout in black-majority, heavily Democratic precincts in Oakland, the party sent voters "chicken-dinner" vouchers that said that if they could bring their voter stub to certain locations proving that they had voted, they would receive a free chicken dinner. This created an outcry among voters who felt that it amounted to illegal