Report 2017-107 Recommendation 4 Responses

Report 2017-107: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters: Insufficient Policies and Procedures Have Led to Errors That May Have Reduced Voters' Confidence in the Registrar's Office (Release Date: October 2017)

Recommendation #4 To: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters

Santa Clara should promptly seek compensation from its vendors for all costs associated with rectifying vendor errors that occur in the future.

60-Day Agency Response

Originally responded 12.22.17. On December 15, 2017, we implemented "ROV Policy - Decision Matrix_Implemented 121517," which incorporates the action item to track time spent by staff on rectifying vendor errors, and the requirement to seek reimbursement for error costs where vendor agreements allow. This two-part action item in the ROV Decision Matrix (see 12.22.17 Response #9) will be carried out when vendor product(s) and/or service(s) are determined to be root cause of an error in voting materials or information. The action items that will be carried out after each such error include: a) Identify Root Cause, a.i) If cause of error was due to vendor or district error, then add follow-up with vendor/district, conduct timesheet time study for hours spent on error, and seek reimbursement for error costs (where vendor agreements allow), b) Determine Affected Voters or Potential Affected Voters, c) Identify Prevention Steps, d) Update Error Tracking Log, d.i) Document any reasons from deviating from this Decision Matrix in the ROV Error Tracking Log, and e) Include Information in Post-Election Report. While this policy was implemented on December 15, 2017, the ROV has yet to have the opportunity to put the policy into practice. ROV Policy - Decision Matrix_Implemented 121517 has been attached separately as Supporting Documentation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

To the extent that Santa Clara follows its established policy by seeking compensation from its vendors for all costs associated with rectifying vendor errors that occur in the future, this recommendation is fully implemented.

All Recommendations in 2017-107

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.