SCAMC: Follow up on Gen. Mem. Meeting Information re: election work

SCAMC Members:

During the General Membership Meeting on Thursday, March 8^th, questions were asked about the Sonoma County Management Employee Voluntary Election Worker Program, which will be presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. Please see the below memo from Ray Leonard regarding the program.

SCAMC Board:

I would like to share with you a historical perspective of the Sonoma County Management Employee Voluntary Election Worker Program and the informational agenda item going to the BOS Tuesday. This has been and continues to be a VOLUNTARY program.

During the 2011/2012 budget process, the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Department had several discussions with staff, managers and the CAO on how to reduce the Registrar of Voters Division budget, while maintaining the integrity of the upcoming elections. Like most other Departments, the Registrar of Voters Divisions has been subject to significant cuts for the past few years – yet elections are mandated and must be conducted. Through the cost savings ideas and the budget discussions, the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor (CRA) included in the budget approved by the BOS the “Sonoma County Management Employee Voluntary Election Worker Program.” The program was discussed in part with the many other budget cost savings ideas at our SCAMC Board Meeting. This program helped offset the needed reduction from the budget while preserving the elections process. The Registrar of Voters Division of the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor Department conducts a number of elections every year. In even-numbered years there are two major elections, the June Primary and the November General Election. These major elections involve approximately 250,000 voters, of whom roughly 170,000 receive ballots and materials through the mail, as vote by mail voters. The small staff of 14 cannot handle the increased volume of work that in the past has relied heavily on Extra Help employees. With the budgetary reductions requested by the BOS /CAO, new ways had to be explored to effectively run the elections process, this program is one of those solutions. Similar programs are in place in other counties. In addition, the Clerk- Recorder-Assessor is in discussion with the Human Services CalWORKs program to see if there are resources that can reduce the number of hours we need from each manager. With almost 2500 hours needing to be covered, this is a daunting task that will only be successful with SCAMCs support and help.

1)      Why was this not brought to the SCAMC membership? The program was part of the budget documents that were approved in the 2011/2012 Budget. The plan was to present it to SCAMC, with a request for volunteers, after it was adopted by the Board. After hearing concerns from SCAMC members, it is clear that presenting the information sooner would have reduced rumors about the program.

2)      If I have to volunteer, why can’t I choose the department I volunteer for? This is part of the Board approved budget reduction plan and other Departments already have year round and ongoing volunteer programs. The Management Employee Voluntary Election Worker Program is intended to assist in meeting budget reductions while also helping a small division with a very large election process every two years.

3)      What if I cannot volunteer at the scheduled times? - Or - Is there going to be a waiver for those with conflicts? This is a voluntary program and ROV understands that there will be special needs and conflicts in schedules (child care issues – engaged in other evening and weekend commitments). We can work around your schedule. We hope to make it fun and interesting. The work is not difficult; there is just a lot of it. We also hope it makes you feel good to be a part of democracy, to see what goes on behind the scenes. Also, by working with HSD CalWORKs, we hope to reduce the hours needed from managers.

4)      What happens if I do not volunteer? We would hope that you would, if we all pitch in and help we can do this, but if you choose not to, that is your choice. It is a voluntary program and thus only those volunteering would be scheduled to work. ROV is also in the process working on a recognition program for those that participate.

The Clerk-Recorder-Assessor understands this is new to many managers and over the next couple of weeks we will expand on the details and be looking to SCAMC for support and to the SCAMC board for assistance in launching this program.

Board of Directors

Lou Maricle

Chairperson 

(707) 565-1988

Mike Thompson 

Vice Chairperson

(707) 524-1166

Deva Proto

Secretary

(707) 565-1770

Doug Uyehara

Treasurer

(707) 565-5162

Susan Kuehn

Recorder

(707) 524-1171

Rich Bottarini

(707) 565-3765