June 5, 2014
The
Vacaville Reporter
If Tuesday's primary showed
anything, it was that the Solano County Registrar of Voters Office has made
great strides in improving its operations.
Granted, the dismal turnout
by voters for the primary — barely more than 21 percent in Solano County — was
hardly the kind of thing that should have taxed a registrar's staff. Still,
unlike past elections, the Solano office kept number counts coming out on a
regular basis and there were no reports of major problems. Final unofficial
tallies were online before midnight.
The stellar performance made
it all the more ironic that the Solano County grand jury would take the office
to task.
Due to a citizen concern, a
2011-12 grand jury report was revisited by the current grand jury and officials
found enough issues on employment and finances to make some findings and
recommendations that, indeed, have some merit.
The jury found that not all
employees were cross-trained as had been recommended by the previous reviewers.
New suggestions for managers include providing more avenues for training and
improvement, encouraging employees to cross-train and considering incentives as
motivation.
Incentives seem unnecessary.
Cross training should be an automatic requirement of employment. One example
pointed out in the grand jury report was cross training of Election
Coordinators and Election Technicians. Coordinators plan, organize and
supervise election programs. Technicians do the support work, data entry on
registration records, compline candidate and voting information, assist with
tabulations etc. The two have different task but work closely and cross
training would certainly help with efficiency in the department.
Grand jurors also found that
the position of Deputy Registrar of Voters, vacant for three years. There is
currently a registrar and an assistant registrar, and it was more than enough
to handle Tuesday's primary but November will be a general election with a
plethora of state, local and federal races and propositions. The grand jury
recommends the deputy position be filled as soon as possible and we agree.
Cost effectiveness was also
a focus of the report, and in particular troubling collection efforts — or more
specifically, lack of collection.
According to the report, the
city of Rio Vista, Benicia City Library and Dixon Public Library all owe the
county money in connection with past elections.
In June 2010, the Registrar
of Voters reviewed petitions for Rio Vista officials. The cost of the work
totaled $3,245.
"As of March 19, 2014,
this amount has not been collected from the city of Rio Vista. ROV (Registrar
of Voters) is currently working with their internal accounting staff to create
an expected revenue tracking sheet for monies owed to Solano County,"
grand jurors noted in their report.
Rio Vista may be struggling
financially but that is no reason to receive county services for free, or on
the backs of taxpayers from elsewhere in the county. The Registrar of Voters is
responsible for collecting the fees for its services and should move to do so
immediately, even if it means working out a payment plan.
The Rio Vista situation
isn't the only case in which funds are still unpaid. In June 2012, the Board of
Supervisors set the maximum amount for Solano County Library Measure
"L" election costs at $100,000. But as of March, only $86,828 had
been received.
"Outstanding amounts of
$8,839 is due from Benicia City Library and $4,332 is due from Dixon Public
Library," the report states.
Grand jurors recommend that
voter officials make it a priority to collect money owed their office.
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