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COUNTY OF SAN MATEOInter-Departmental Correspondence |
Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder |
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DATE: |
October 28, 2002 |
BOARD MEETING DATE: |
November 12, 2002 |
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TO: |
Honorable Board of Supervisors |
FROM: |
Warren Slocum, Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder |
SUBJECT: |
Appropriations Transfer Request ($507,080 for Election Services) |
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Recommendation |
Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request (ATR) transferring $507,080 from the Unanticipated Revenue and Departmental Reserve accounts to the Salaries & Benefits and Services & Supplies accounts within the Elections budget unit. |
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Background |
The bilingual election requirements of the language minority provisions of Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 took effect in our county on July 26, 2002, per the Department of Justice advisory with respect to Chinese Americans and persons of Spanish heritage. We must take "all reasonable steps" to enable these eligible voters to effectively be informed and participate in voting-connected activities. |
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Discussion |
In order to accomplish that mandate it is necessary to hire additional bilingual staff for community outreach, voter services, and translations. We experienced higher than usual expenses for the printing of sample ballots and official ballots as well as other election instructional material that needed to be printed in three languages. Other areas of cost increase included postage and official publications. |
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Looking toward the future, we hope to be in a position to "target" voters for the November 2003 Uniform District elections. This means that we will print Chinese and Spanish sample ballots and official ballots for those voters who request election materials in those languages. This will potentially reduce election costs, but since we will still have the requirement to print in three languages, it will continue to impact our overall election costs. |
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Fiscal Impact |
There is no Net County Cost. Funding will be coming from the Departmental Reserve and Unanticipated Revenue (election services) accounts within the Elections budget unit. |