Sonoma County is getting its own elections czar, as the Board of Supervisors this week approved a proposal to create a new department to oversee elections run by a board-appointed Registrar of Voters.
Currently the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters is an elected position that also holds the duties of clerk, recorder and assessor. Under the new structure, the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor would still be chosen by voters, but the Registrar of Voters would be a position appointed by the Board of Supervisors.
“The task of administering elections has become increasingly challenging in the past decade, to the point where it has become a full-time assignment for a department head,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Board of Supervisors, in a statement.
Hopkins also noted the change will eliminate the conflict of interest in “having an elected department head that is required to oversee their own election.”
The move brings Sonoma County in line with most other counties in California.
There are currently only eight combined County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters departments out of 58 counties in the state, and all but one are significantly smaller than Sonoma County, county officials explained in an announcement. Of the 15 counties with more registered voters than Sonoma, nine have separate Registrar of Voters departments, and 10 have appointed department heads.
“Over the last few years, a number of counties have moved to recognize the increased workload and unique nature of the Registrar of Voters and have split to allow department heads to focus on elections,” the statement from the county said. Gov. Gavin Newsom last year signed SB 1514, which added Sonoma County to the list of counties that can have a separately appointed registrar of voters.
Deva Marie Proto is the current Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters. “[The move] increases the integrity and public trust in our election system,” Proto said.
The new Registrar of Voters Department is expected to be created at the start of the fiscal year on July 1. Following that, a months-long executive level recruitment will be conducted to fill the position.
