DATE: March 12, 2019
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Brandi Orth, Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
SUBJECT: Voters Choice Act Legislation
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
1. Consider County Clerk's recommendation to implement the Voter's Choice Act in March 2020; and
2. Provide direction to the County Clerk to:
Option 1: Implement the Voter's Choice Act Model; or
Option 2: Continue with the current precinct model and take the steps to acquire the necessary equipment to continue using this model, and consider an additional service to the precinct model adding three satellite election offices.
REPORT
Legislation now provides that all California counties have the opportunity to transition to the Voters Choice Act (VCA), California Elections Code sections 4005-4008, in 2020. The VCA authorizes a county to automatically mail every voter a ballot, provide additional secure ballot drop-off boxes located throughout the county and to establish regional Voting Assistance Centers, replacing multiple precinct locations. Voting Assistance Centers will allow voters to cast a ballot in-person at any vote center in their county. The County of Fresno must decide to either continue the current precinct model or implement the VCA in 2020. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may choose to support the move to implement the VCA or support remaining in a precinct voting model. Continuing with the present precinct model will require a larger capital outlay for the purchase of the new voting system. It is expected that the larger capital cost will be significantly offset by grants and matching funds.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Net County Cost is dependent on which option your Board provides direction on. The following is a summary of the costs associated with options one and two:
* Option One - Implement VCA Model. The VCA model has an ongoing increase of approximately $131,000 per election (5% of the total election costs) vs. the current prec...
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