Memorandum
Date: May 13, 2025
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Maria Valadez, Registrar of Voters
Subject: Consideration of Proposal - Investing in Staffing, Infrastructure, and Technology
Executive Summary:
Summary:
On Election Night, November 5, 2024, 7,960 ballots were counted and reported, nearly 29% of the 27,127 total votes cast. During the following week, the Registrar of Voters Office processed approximately 681 ballots-despite our team operating at full capacity. This reduced pace is not due to a lack of commitment or effort; rather, it reflects the structural limitations of an office that has outgrown its current resources.
We are asking for your support to address this gap-not through a change to certification timelines, but through targeted, cost-effective investments that will allow our team to meet rising demands and public expectations.
Background:
Lake County's elections office performs every task required of larger counties, with significantly fewer staff and outdated infrastructure. Our ability to deliver accurate, timely, and transparent election results depends on aligning our operational capacity with the complexity of our mandate.
The public sees seamless voting. Behind the scenes, we're working around the clock with minimal margin for error-and no margin for delay. Without meaningful investment, we cannot sustain this performance, let alone improve it.
Targeted Solutions for Faster Results:
1. Priority 1 - Immediate Efficiency Gains (Directly impacts canvass speed and reporting frequency)
o 1 Full-Time Elections Technician (IT/GIS): Adds internal capacity for ballot layout, mapping, equipment troubleshooting, and election system performance-key bottlenecks during tabulation.
o Reclassification of 1 Elections Specialist to Analyst: Streamlines campaign finance oversight, public records response, and data tracking-freeing technical staff to focus on ballot processing.
o 6 Additional Extra Help Staff for Canv...
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