To: Board of Supervisors
From: Clerk/Recorder
SUBJECT:
title
Recertification of the Results of the June 5, 2018, Statewide Direct Primary Election
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors accepts the Recertified Statement of Results of the Official Canvass for the June 5, 2018, Statewide Direct Primary Election.
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SOURCE OF FUNDING:
General Fund.
DISCUSSION:
On July 23, 2018, the Humboldt Election Transparency Project, a non-profit that performs an independent ballot audit of Humboldt County elections, informed the Office of Elections that there appeared to be a discrepancy in the votes from one precinct, 2CU.
The consolidated precinct, 2CU, is made up of precincts in the Carlotta area and is in the Second Supervisorial District. The Office of Elections sent one eScan, the ballot scanning piece of equipment and primary voting machine, to that precinct for Election Day.
As part of the canvass after an election, the Office of Elections produces reports that allowed us to look at the returns for 2CU. We found that of the 61 voters who voted at the polling place in Carlotta, up to 41 voters appeared to have over-voted a substantial number races on the ballot.
This was recognized as a very abnormal result. Further research was done, including rerunning the precinct ballots on a tested eScan not used in the election and conducting a manual count of the precinct and provisional ballots from that precinct. It was determined that the original eScan sent to the Carlotta polling place malfunctioned early in the day on Election Day, reading votes for races as over-votes. However, the differences in vote totals for the affected races did not change any outcomes in either state or local contests.
Both the California Secretary of State’s Office and Hart Intercivic, vendor of the eScan, were notified, and between them, it was determined that the machine had a hardware malfunction. It will be sent for diagnostic testing and the information generated will be shared with the Secretary of State’s Office of Voter Systems Technology Assessment.
Because Humboldt County vote totals had been shown to be incorrect in the first certification of July 3, 2018, the Secretary of State’s Office asked that Humboldt County recertify the election and provide them revised reports.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact to the General Fund.
This item meets the Board of Supervisor’s Strategic Framework by providing appropriate levels of community service and building interjurisdictional and regional cooperation.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
N/A
ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
The Board could choose not to accept the Certified Statement of the Results, but would then be out of compliance with Elections Code, Section 15400.
ATTACHMENTS:
Revised Certificate of Result, Cumulative Report, Revised Cumulative Repost, Precinct Report 2CU, Revised Precinct Report 2CU
PREVIOUS ACTION/REFERRAL:
Board Order No.: C-9
Meeting of: July 10, 2018