Bill O'Neill spoke to us about his background and current job as Registrar of Voters for El Dorado County. Bill moved to EDC in 2003 and lives south of the town of El Dorado. He has a tech background and worked selling voting systems around the state and the country. He knew Bill Schultz, the former Registrar, and got his recommendation when Schultz decided to retire. Bill discussed all the special elections coming up including the election for our District 1 Senate seat, a Special Primary Election, on March 26. Two major new developments in El Dorado County voting are: 1) There is a plan to replace the current Voting System (hardware and software) by Aug. 31, 2019; and 2) Rather than local polling precincts, the county is moving to giving everyone a "mail-in" ballot, and giving them the option to mail it in, or turn it in at a Vote Center -- either one of 3 11-day Vote Centers (S. Lake Tahoe, Placerville, and El Dorado Hills), or one of 13 4-day vote Centers -- or at one of 9-15 drop boxes. There were a number of good questions from the audience, mostly about the security of our voting system and how serious a problem is voter fraud locally and around the country. |