Report 2017-107 Recommendation 8 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 #8 To: Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters

To ensure the accuracy of election-related materials, Santa Clara should immediately implement a procedure for candidates, voting districts, or others who submit documents to have them verify the accuracy of the electronic versions of those documents once Santa Clara has formatted them.

6-Month Agency Response

Progress from the last report includes the implementation and use of the policy, procedure and Municipality and Authors Review Tracking Log. The tracking log includes all the authors' contact information and their specific responses back to our office, as well as the final approval of each of those documents. A specific email address was created for the Municipality and Author Review so that the appropriate personnel within the division are notified when a response from an author is received in response to the office's request for review and approval. Evidence to support these practices, as well as the Tracking Log, have been submitted separately as Supporting Documentation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

Originally responded 12.22.17. We have developed a procedure for candidates, voting districts, and measure argument submitters to verify the accuracy of electronic versions of voting material documents once the Ballot Layout Division has formatted them, against the original submitted documents. This procedure, called the "Municipality and Author Review," requires the Candidate Services Division to ensure a legible email address is provided, and after materials have been transferred to Ballot Layout, the Ballot Layout Division to create a special log for tracking the review process. After a document has been formatted in English, it is a) proofread multiple times, b) placed in a "Done" tray, c) uploaded to the translation vendor's portal, d) emailed to the municipal clerk or author, e) logged as "emailed" in the special log, and f) filed in batch order awaiting response. Any responses are reviewed to ensure if they are valid (i.e., an error was introduced by the ROV) or invalid (i.e., the error was in the original). These actions are recorded in the special log, until all documents have been checked off as completed. While this procedure was approved on December 21, 2017, the ROV has yet to have the opportunity to put the procedure into practice. The procedure and sample tracking log have been attached separately as Supporting Documentation.

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

Although Santa Clara has developed a procedure for candidates, voting districts, and others who submit documents to have them verify the accuracy of the electronic versions of those documents once it has formatted them, it has not yet implemented this procedure. Until Santa Clara can demonstrate that it has implemented this procedure, we will continue to report this recommendation as partially implemented.

All Recommendations in 2017-107

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.