SLO County Elections Office is underfunded and needs more staff, grand jury says

The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office needs more funding, staff and space to support quality work and prevent mistakes, according to the San Luis Obispo County civil grand jury.

During the 2022 General Election, the SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office excluded two candidate statements from the Voter Information Guide and printed a mistake in ballot wording about a school district measure, the grand jury said in a report released on Monday.

These mistakes could have been avoided with more staff, a larger space, and written instructions for how to review printed election materials, the grand jury said.

The grand jury noted that elections staff had a larger workload than usual this year, as they managed a recount while preparing for the General Election. Overall, the grand jury appreciated their work.

“The clerk-recorder and staff are extremely conscientious in their election responsibilities,” the grand jury said. “They strive to be current on all election changes, in putting together a flawless product, and in carrying out election results in a fair manner. We applaud their service.”

Errors in SLO County Voter Guide, ballots

The SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office made two types of printing errors on election materials for the 2022 General Election.

The Voter Information Guide excluded two candidate statements, one for Pismo Beach City Council candidate Kevin Kreowski and another for Lucia Mar Unified School District Area No. 3 candidate Ashley Smeester.

Both candidates lost their respective elections.

Meanwhile, Pismo Beach City Council candidate Stacy Inman’s statement appeared twice in the voter guide. She won a seat on the Pismo Beach City Council.

Toppan Merill, the company hired to print election materials, made the printing errors in the Voter Guide, according to the grand jury.

County staff didn’t proof-read the Voter Guide after it was printed, so they didn’t catch the error, the grand jury said.

On Oct. 12, county Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano announced the error to the public. Toppan Merill paid to print the missing statements, and the county then mailed the corrected voter guides to impacted voters. The county refunded candidates who had missing statements.

To avoid similar mistakes in the future, the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office created a policy that requires a final review of the printed Voter Guide, according to the report.

The office also printed incorrect language for Measure C-22 on the ballot.

Measure C-22 was a $349 million bond designed to fund renovations to 15 school campuses in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.

The measure proposed charging a property tax of 4.9 cents per $100 in assessed value on each home. The ballot, however, incorrectly said that the measure would impose a 4.9% tax on every $100 of value, the report said.

The ballot measure passed anyway, with 63.1% of voters supporting it

County staff made the error while proofreading the ballot language before sending it to the printer, according to the grand jury.

On Oct. 12, Cano announced the error publicly, and soon sent post cards to impacted voters with the measure’s correct language.

Her office then created a policy that requires the ballot measure sponsor to proofread its language before ballots are sent to voters. County staff will also compare edits to the original version of the ballot in the future, according to the report.

Elections Office should hire more staff, have written instructions, grand jury said

Preparing an election is a hefty job.

The County Clerk-Recorder’s Office must verify voter addresses, update the voter rolls, and assemble and mail the ballots ahead of the election, the report said.

To prepare for the 2022 General Election, the Clerk-Recorder’s Office assembled 70 ballot and voter guide variations to match where different voters lived, the grand jury said.

Meanwhile, the office ran a manual recount for the District 4 Board of Supervisors primary election.

The recount lasted 18 days, and its results were identical to the original ballot tally.

The recount “further strained staff resources,” the report said, as much of the election staff had to work overtime to prepare for the General Election after recount proceedings ended for the day.

“We haven’t stopped working on weekends,” Cano told New Times in October, according to the grand jury report. “We’re six days a week at minimum, 10 hours a day, to make up for those five weeks lost. It’s significant. We’re doing the best we can and pushing through.”

With a budget of $18 million and about six full-time equivalent staff, SLO County’s Elections Office has the smallest budget compared to six other California counties of a similar population size — including Santa Barbara, Monterey and Kings counties, according to the report.

To prevent future mistakes, the county should allocate more funding to the Clerk-Recorder’s Office, hire more staff and provide a larger space for ballot counting and storage, the grand jury said.

Right now, the election team only includes five assistant positions, the report said.

The Clerk-Recorder’s Office made four funding requests during the county’s 2023-24 budget discussions:

• A program manager to lead the vote-by-mail process.

• A public information specialist to communicate with media and the public.

• A specialist to “maintain district, precinct, street and address data,” the report said.

• An increase in the temporary staff budget, allowing the office to hire more people as needed and offer raises to existing staff.

The grand jury encouraged the county to support these requests, emphasizing a need for the program manager to assist with the supervision of daily tasks.

The office also needs a larger space to count ballots to accommodate for a bigger staff and observers, along with a larger warehouse to store election materials, the grand jury said.

The Clerk-Recorder’s Office should also create a written procedure for reviewing printed materials, the report said.

Right now, the office does not have “written instructions that describe step-by-step processes” for proofreading and printing election materials, the grand jury said.

Typically, the deputy clerk-recorder assembles an election team to build the different ballots, and “catalog them under a master spreadsheet. An election management system is used to track document preparation and proofing,” the report said.

Experienced staff give verbal instruction to the team, but not written instructions, the report said.

“The lack of complete written procedures increases the risk of mistakes,” the report said. “Once an error is overlooked in the process, the error would continue to be uncorrected.”

The grand jury recommended that the office “establish a written procedure for reviewing printed election materials before distribution to the voting public,” the report said.

This would minimize errors, and support staff training and leadership changes, the grand jury said.

The SLO County Clerk-Recorder’s Office and the Board of Supervisors must respond to the report within 60 days.