The Tulare County Grand Jury had good news and bad news in reports released this week that investigated county agencies:
> The Grand Jury said there are no signs of voting fraud involving the county's absentee voting.
> But in a separate report, the Grand Jury was critical of the county Health and Humans Services Agency for spending too much to mail letters.
The Grand Jury, a volunteer group of residents that aims to constructively investigate local government, released two reports to the Times-Delta on Monday.
Both the Elections Office and HHSA have 90 days to issue formal responses to the Grand Jury report.
An investigation by the group found that several single-page documents, which were not time-sensitive, were sent to multiple recipients by HHSA via FedEx at a cost of $6.88 each.
"This document could have been sent first-class mail for 44 cents or [by] certified mail for an additional $2.80," according to a summary of the 2010-11 county Grand Jury Final Report released Monday.
The two-page summary states the investigation was launched as a result of claims of excessive mailing costs in HHSA, which has a mailing allowance of more than $1.2 million in its current budget.
Grand Jury officials didn't indicate how many letters or packages might have been sent by over-priced methods or the total costs involved.
"Although there was no evidence of widespread abuse of the system, the Grand Jury was able to substantiate the complaint and found the possibility exists for abuses," the report states.
It goes on to say HHSA has no formal policy on using cost-effective methods for sending mail and recommended one be developed, along with the agency periodically reviewing mail charges.
"In these times of tight budgets, all avenues of cutting costs must be followed," the report states.
Second report
The investigation into absentee ballots stemmed from reports of voter fraud in two nearby counties over the past few years, though the report didn't identify those counties or detail what happened.
The Grand Jury reports it launched an investigation last year of absentee ballots — those mailed in by voters -†and whether rules were being followed at voting precincts.
Grand Jury members also looked at digital lists of voter names, addresses and phone numbers, paying particular attention to multiple voters listed at the same addresses and questionable addresses.
The members also went to polling sites Nov. 2 to observe the general election, and also observed the signature verification for absentee ballots after Election Day.
Among their findings:
> Precinct workers are satisfied with the voting system in place, and stated they weren't intimidated or aware of any suspicious happenings while they worked.
> Voters don't have to speak English.
> Costly touch-screen voting machines were hardly used in lieu of paper ballots, and poll workers said they were told not to encourage use of the machines.
> There is no national program in place to determine if a person votes in more than one state.
> During their training, precinct workers were told they don't have to ask voters for identification unless their names are "flagged" by the California Secretary of State's Office.
> Absentee voters whose ballots have questionable or had no signatures aren't notified until after the elections, so their votes aren't counted.
The report also states reasons mail-in ballots have been challenged in recent years. Those include signatures on ballots not matching those in county voter records, lack of signatures, returned ballots, deceased voters and issues over the voters' addresses.
The highest number of challenged absentee ballots in the county since 2004 was 845, during the 2004 general election. The lowest was 527 in that year's primary election.
Grand Jury members found no signs of tampering with mail-in ballots, though they did conclude they are vulnerable.
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20110208/NEWS01/102080307/Tulare+County+Grand+Jury+critical+of+Health+and+Human+Services+Agency+s+mailing+costs
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