English - Riverside County Registrar of Voters

Kari VerjilRegistrar of VotersRebecca SpencerAssistant Registrar of VotersCommittee Members:Edmundo ÁlvarezFrancisco Sola, Latino Voter ProjectGuests:Elena Carrasco, Mi Familia VotaJuanita Rivera SolaREGISTRAR OF VOTERSCOUNTY OF RIVERSIDESummary of the Spanish LanguageCommunity Outreach Group (COG) MeetingMay 24, 2012 -- 10:15 am – 11:30amRegistrar of Voters2724 Gateway DriveRiverside, CA 92507Registrar of Voters Staff:Caroline Saucedo – Election Coordinator’s AssistantKen Hayes – Election Technician IIPurpose of Meeting:Update current members and quests on electoral changes that will take place in 2012. Provideupdates of the Community Outreach Group (COG) and Outreach posters and otherinformational materials. Discuss how to assist the limited English proficient Spanish speakingcommunity. Discuss the goals of the Spanish Language Community Outreach Program.Meeting brought to order at 10:15 am:Caroline Saucedo, COG Chairwoman, introduced herself and staff and welcomed guest ElenaCarrasco. Since Ms. Carrasco was visiting for the first time, Ms. Saucedo discussed the role,guidelines, and purpose of the Spanish Language Community Outreach Group.Ms. Saucedo reviewed the Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Justiceand Riverside County. As part of the agreement, the Registrar of Voters must provide all votinginformation in Spanish at the same level as it is provided in English. Currently there are 30COG Committee Members throughout Riverside County. Meetings are held throughout thecounty and are very similar in content.Informal meeting was held without following the agenda at the request of the attendees.Attendees were asked if there were any specific topics that they wanted to discuss.2724 Gateway Drive, Riverside, CA 92507-0918 • (951) 486-7200 • FAX (951) 486-7272 • TTY (951) 697-8966www.voteinfo.net Su Voto--Su Voz--Su Decisión Your Vote--Your Voice--Your Decision

Meeting SummarySpanish Language Community Outreach Group (COG)May 24, 2012Suggestion by Committee Member, Edmundo Alvarez; he suggested that sincecommittee members are already contributing their time, maybe the Registrar couldconsider paying the attendees mileage for attending the meetings.The meeting was commenced with a discussion of various words in Spanish and theretranslations. Ms. Saucedo explained this has been a topic of the Committee Outreach Groupalmost since the program began, since there is such a variance in the translations, especiallyfor country to country.The attendees were asked to introduced themselves; Mr. Alvarez identified himself as a pollworker. Ms. Saucedo asked Mr. Alvarez if he was an Inspector. Mr. Alvarez stated, herelinquished that position and added, “Anybody can be an Inspector, but not anybody can be abilingual pollworker.” Mr. Sola asked for clarification of the various positions within electionofficers. Ms. Saucedo explained the various positions and there responsibilities such as, anInspector (lead pollworker), also discussed the various stipends for the pollworkers. Anothertopic addressed was the identification of bilingual (Spanish) pollworkers as per the Departmentof Justice requirement. Ms. Saucedo explained that although the Registrar of Voters collectsdata associated with other languages the only language the Registrar of Voters is required toprovide is Spanish. The Registrar of Voters must also provide language assistance in Tagalogto three precincts in Palm Springs according to the census data collected in 2010. Additionally,the Registrar of Voters was previously required to provide language assistance in the nativelanguage of Cahuilla, but that requirement is no longer in place. Ms. Saucedo explained theDepartment of Justice method of collecting statistics for determining the bilingual requirementsis according to surname. Mr. Sola interjected and states or according to what a voter indicateson their registration cards. Ms. Saucedo responded the data is collected entirely by surname.Mr. Sola states that there are two questions on the registration cards that are irrelevant sincethey are not used for the statistics by the Department of Justice. The first question is regardingethnicity group and the second question is in what language would the voter like their electionmaterial sent.Ms. Saucedo explained the various objectives of the COG Program. Ms. Carrasco asked whatCOG stands for and when was it founded.The next topic discussed was the minimum requirement of pollworkers for each polling place.The requirement varies from polling place to polling place. But the Registrar of Voters goesabove and beyond the minimum requirement in order to insure that there is bilingualassistance in the polling places at all times, and this is to place at least one bilingualpollworkers in every single polling place regardless if it is zero. Ms. Saucedo explained to theattendees that we are about 10 days away from the election and the minimum requirement hasnot been met. Mr. Sola and Ms. Carrasco asked for an email that could be forwarded to assistin our bilingual recruitment needs. Ms Saucedo explained that a review of the requirements ismade 15 days prior to the election that determines the areas that do not meet the requirement.In these areas the Registrar of Voters can place Spanish Language Rover program. TheSpanish Language Rovers are area support workers that are assigned a small number of22724 Gateway Drive, Riverside, CA 92507-0918 • (951) 486-7200 • FAX (951) 486-7272 • TTY (951) 697-8966www.voteinfo.net Su Voto--Su Voz--Su Decisión Your Vote--Your Voice--Your Decision

Meeting SummarySpanish Language Community Outreach Group (COG)May 24, 2012polling places, usually 8 to 10 polling places. The individuals travel from polling place to pollingplace to insure there is added support. They can also be dispatched to a polling place by theInspectors at our office.Next Ms. Saucedo discussed Adopt-A-Polls, which allows a pollworkers to reassign theirstipend to a designated cause. For example if there is a group or individual that is trying toraise funds, they could coordinate a group for Adopt-A-Polls. These individuals would serve onElection Day and designate their stipend to Adopt-A-Polls. The Registrar of Voters will redirectall of the stipends to that group for their fundraising.Mr. Alvarez addresses several requirements identified on the Outreach Poster. He stated youmust be a registered voter, you must be a US Citizen, be at least 18 years old or 16 years oldand posses a minimum 2.5 GPA. Ms. Saucedo agreed there are a few requirements forserving at the polls as mentioned by Mr. Alvarez.Mr. Sola mentioned the long hours spent at the polls and that the stipend is minimal. Mr. Solapoints put the individuals serving the polls must be in it for the civic duty and not the monies.Mr. Alvarez agreed and stated that it is one of the longest days in his life. He states in pastelections his fellow officers have counted ballots multiple times in order to balance. Ms.Saucedo pointed out in an effort to expedite the ballots in a timely manner; the pollworkers areasked to count the ballots only once and pack them up and return to the collection centers.Ms. Saucedo explained the newest process of team one and team two. She explains that whileteam one tallies the ballots then delivers the ballots to the collection centers, team two willremain at the polling place to disassemble the equipment. Mr. Alvarez thinks this is a verygood idea. Additionally the Registrar of Voters will implement the use of the Riverside CountySherriff’s Department to transport ballots from the Collection Centers to our office. The SherriffDepartment’s helicopter will also transport the ballots from the City of Blythe.Mr. Alvarez asked if a ballot is marked in Spanish on one side and English and on the otherside. How will the individuals know which side to count, Ms. Saucedo informed Mr. Alvarez thatballots are not manually counted. Mr. Hayes interjected and added that the ballots are in bothEnglish and Spanish on the same side. English is first and right underneath it is translated intoSpanish. Ms. Saucedo stated the ballots are counted electronically by the 400C machines,which has the ability to count a two sided ballot. Ms. Saucedo encouraged the attendees tovisit our office for an insight of Election Day processes. Mr. Sola expressed how pleased he iswith the return and processing of the ballots. He mentioned in past elections the Registrar ofVoters Office received bad publicity during the time when Barbara Dunmore was the Registrar.He feels the Registrar of Voters has always performed very well in posting election results asquickly as possible. Ms. Saucedo suggested Mr. Sola send Ms. Verjil a message throughFacebook. She explained Ms. Verjil has always shared positive comments like these with theentire department at staff meetings. Mr. Sola stated he has shred this comment with the PressEnterprise.Mr. Sola expressed the limited time he has remaining for the meeting. Ms. Saucedo asked if32724 Gateway Drive, Riverside, CA 92507-0918 • (951) 486-7200 • FAX (951) 486-7272 • TTY (951) 697-8966www.voteinfo.net Su Voto--Su Voz--Su Decisión Your Vote--Your Voice--Your Decision

Meeting SummarySpanish Language Community Outreach Group (COG)May 24, 2012there were any topics that he would like to discuss. Mr. Sola stated he would like to discuss theCardenas Project and high school outreach. Mr. Sola asked for clarification of the CardenasProject. Does this mean there are voter registration cards at all Cardenas Markets? Ms.Saucedo stated there are voter registration cards at all nine Riverside County CardenasMarkets.. Mr. Sola asked if this is a unique partnership or are other stores or counties doinganything similar? Ms. Saucedo responded this is a unique partnership. Ms. Carrasco knows ofonly one other county doing something similar in Nevada. Ms. Carrasco asked if this is beingpromoted by the media and suggested the Cardenas Project be more widely promotedusing the media such as, Univision and La Prensa. Another suggestion made by Ms.Carrasco is to promote the Cardenas Project with an outreach event at one of the storelocations. Ms. Carrasco suggested a meeting to discuss the possibility of an outreachand promotional event with Marco Robles, Public Relations Director for CardenasMarkets, the Registrar, Ms. Saucedo (COG) and Mi Familia Vota (Ms. Carrasco).Mr. Sola would like ask other market chains such as Maxi Foods to join in the efforts.Ms. Carrasco states Mi Familia Vota will shift their focus into other food chains such asSuperior Market chain amongst others, due to their partnership with Lieberman Enterprises.Ms. Carrasco suggested the COG Program partner with Mi Familia Vota to get theregistration cards into other market chains. Ms, Carrasco and Mr. Sola feel if the Registrarof Voters supports their efforts by partnering with them since people might be more receptive.Next the attendees discussed high school outreach. Ms. Saucedo stated she has had a fewrequest, but none that have followed through. Ms. Saucedo stated that due to herresponsibilities with the upcoming June 5, 2012 Presidential Primary Election she is unable topursue voter outreach at the high schools. Ms. Carrasco suggested that she Mi FamiliaVota be informed of the outreach request at the high schools and as a COG CommitteeMember she would be happy to attend outreaches.The Community outreach meeting concluded with a tour of the Registrar of Voters office at12:00 p.m.The next Community Outreach Group meeting will be held on June 28, 2012 at 10:15 a.m. atthe Hometown Buffet, 390 N Mc Kinley St Ste 110, Corona, CA 9287942724 Gateway Drive, Riverside, CA 92507-0918 • (951) 486-7200 • FAX (951) 486-7272 • TTY (951) 697-8966www.voteinfo.net Su Voto--Su Voz--Su Decisión Your Vote--Your Voice--Your Decision