Amador County Election Board
BACKGROUND
The 1998-99 Amador County Grand Jury Election
Committee conducted a routine agency review of
the County Election Board.
The Election Board staff was interviewed as well
as a County accountant to ascertain the
procedures and organization of the Election
Board and its functions. Sites were visited to
inspect records and their storage. Records were
inspected to verify types of records held and
archival compliance to State regulations.
The interviews of the Election Board staff led
to the identification of the types of records
that are kept and the processes involved with
these records. The data collected was comprised
of a voter registration card, a sample ballot,
an absentee ballot request and an inspector's
packet for precinct operation during the
election-day process. The records reviewed
included the database of Amador County Voter
Registration, the Election Board budget, the
voter registration card and the archived ballot
storage records.
The sites visited were the Election Board office
located at 500 Argonaut Lane in the John C.
Begovich Building and a storage unit located off-
site.
FINDINGS
-
The number of employees at the Election
Board are:
- One Clerk-Recorder
- One Full-Time Clerk
- Two Part Time Clerks
- Various numbers of temporary staff to
handle voting and ballot processing for
elections in the County
-
The Election Board converts the voter
registration
information onto a computer database.
- The election results are certified by the
Amador County
Board of Supervisors after tally by the Election
Board.
- The certified election results are sent to
the
Secretary of State.
- The Board of Supervisors does not convene a
special
session to certify tallied votes.
- If the Board is between sessions, there is a
delay in
the certifying of the County's election results.
- Election Board has hourly contact with the
Secretary of
State's Office on election day as to status of the
election.
- All voter affiliation and registration forms
are public
and available for twenty years.
- Precinct workers receive training on precinct
set-up
and operation.
- Regular Election Board staff receive County
policy/procedure training in February.
- The Absentee Ballot application (on the
Sample Ballot) addresses permanent Absentee
Status.
- There is no safe available for the Election
Board's use at the Begovich building. The
computer database backup tape of voter
registration is taken home by an employee
nightly, even though the Election Board has a
safe deposit box at a local bank for records
storage.
- Written instructions given to precinct
workers do not comply with the California
Election Board Code Section 14272 requiring that
"workers shall give secrecy sleeve with ballot".
- There are many new precincts in the County,
with more
to come for the year 2000.
- The records disposal is accomplished through
a State agency.
RECOMMENDATIONS
-
The Amador County Board of Supervisors
convene a
special session for election results certification
of the
final voter tally.
-
To prevent confusion, the request for
permanent
absentee ballots should be in large bold type bold
on the
Sample Ballot.
-
To prevent a possible breach of
confidentiality
(Federal Privacy Act 1974) the backup voter
registration
data tape should be stored in a safe on County
premises or the local safe deposit box.
-
To comply with the California Election Board
Code
Section 14272, County precinct workers need to
be trained in the practice of placing all
ballots into secrecy sleeves. The Inspector's
Task Handout should be changed to reflect
this procedure.
- The County Election Board advertise new
precincts, including maps in the newspaper,
prior to election day.
Table of Contents
The 1998-99 Amador County Grand Jury Election
Committee conducted a routine agency review of
the County Election Board.