In a California State Assembly hearing on Tuesday, State Assembly Member Alexandra Macedo (R) pressed Democrat lawmakers about their plans to hold a special election allowing redistricting in response to Texas gerrymandering efforts.
00:00Do you have a question or just wanted to get your perspective on this, given that there will be a huge undertaking and I want to find out what the organization is thinking about it.
00:10Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. Madam Chair and committee members, Jesse Salinas. I am the assessor, clerk, recorder and register of voters for Yolo County. I'm also serving as president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. So very honored to be here. Thank you very much for the question.
00:29And I can share with you that we are working diligently. We're a very collection of highly skilled professionals that are preparing for this election, this pending election that's coming up. And we are working diligently right now in preparing for the election and identifying the necessary sites and locations and preparing accordingly with that.
00:53We've also are working closely with the Secretary of State's office on follow up details to ensure that this election is run as efficiently and effectively as possible moving forward.
01:05Thank you so much. Any other questions or comments from committee members? Vice Chair Macedo.
01:10I will leave my feelings on this out of this because I have 15 minutes and I want to make sure that I get my questions answered. How can the legislature justify spending 235 million on a rush special election when core programs like education, health care and wildfire prevention are being cut?
01:26So first off, I want to say we're in this crisis because of the federal administration and this election is going to cost as much as a new ballroom that President Trump wants to build at the White House.
01:40We have the fourth largest economy in the world in a large budget, so we can't figure out how to fund those things. We're expecting the federal government to do that.
01:47My next question is, why was this urgency election necessary when no genuine emergency exists? The governor has not declared a state of emergency. Just feeling like we should sound the alarms is not enough to do so. There's an urgency clause in here.
02:03Again, this is a crisis brought upon us because of what the state of Texas is doing. If they would pull back their measure, we would not be moving forward today with this urgency. It is a crisis.
02:17This is what is happening to our families in our neighborhoods. This is how Californians have a direct response and what is occurring in the future that they want to see for this country.
02:28So because you feel that way, but no real emergency has been declared. How will counties be reimbursed for these costs?
02:34The Department of Finance will determine the cost for this election. That will be through the Secretary of State as well as to the county registrars to administer the election on November 4th.
02:46Will they be paid in full up front or left to bear the burden themselves?
02:50The Secretary of State, I know perhaps we have folks here or Madam Chair.
02:55My understanding is the counties will be paid up front.
02:58Is that in the language of the bill? Because counties like mine won't be able to do the election to the extent necessary.
03:06As a former county elections official, this is something I care very deeply about and we want to make sure the counties are made whole and they receive the funds up front.
03:15So can we get that in the bill?
03:17It is.
03:20It is stated.
03:21It is very clear that counties will be made whole to administer the election on November 4th.
03:26Okay.
03:27Just wanted to make sure that my county, who's very rural, is going to be taken care of.
03:31You made a really great point that I have questions, but I do want to mention that you talk about disenfranchising minority communities.
03:38At the Independent Redistricting Commission hearings, they have translators available.
03:43To my knowledge, we have no translators available for this hearing.
03:47So talk about disenfranchising minority communities.
03:51What assurance do counties have that they will not be subject to unfunded mandates by being forced to carry out this rush process?
04:00Again, it is stated in the bill, in the analysis of the bill.
04:04Can you point to the exact language in the bill?
04:07You have the analysis before you.
04:09I'm not asking for the analysis.
04:11I'm asking for the bill language.
04:12The Department of Finance will determine the cost of this election, and at the end of the day, we are going to ensure that the counties will have everything that they need to conduct a special election on November 4th.
04:26Okay.
04:26And I appreciate that.
04:27I appreciate that you're saying that.
04:29What I am asking for is verbiage in legislation, and you have an attorney next to you that I'm sure participated in the drafting of this, as well as your ledge director.
04:37I'm asking for not just your testimony saying, we promise this is going to happen.
04:42I'm asking, and not in the analysis, because that's not legally binding.
04:46I got it right here.
04:47Section 4A, it says, it is the intent of the legislature to ensure counties have sufficient funding to effectuate the November 4th, 2025 special statewide election.
04:57An amount is hereby appropriated from the general fund to the controller for the actual and reasonably necessary costs as determined by the director of finance for the counties to conduct that November 4th, 2025 statewide special election.
05:11Again, this is not a appropriations committee.
05:13The funding issues will be addressed in that committee.
05:16We are policy.
05:17So let's move our questions back to policy.
05:20And this is a funding a special election bill.
05:23So, Mike, I'm glad that you read that aloud.
05:26So we have intent language.
05:28We know how much that's legally binding.
05:30We have, I'm sure, attorneys in the room that can tell us that.
05:33Can counties realistically administer a statewide redistricting election on such a compressed timeline that you talked about without errors, lawsuits, or disenfranchisement?
05:45So we have actually had some tight timelines in the past, and this is going to be a challenge.
05:50There's no question there's going to be challenging administrative challenges to this election.
05:55But I think in working with what guidelines we have and in working with the Secretary of State's office on looking at some details that we can work collectively to book this election.
06:07We've done a lot of successful, difficult elections in the past.
06:11And I remind everybody of the 2020 election, which was a general election under COVID, and we were able to do amazing work.
06:19And I know I have the highest confidence in my colleagues across the state that they will be successful in making it happen as long as these details that we're working through are finalized and can be done in a timely fashion.
06:32What is the shortest timeline you've pulled an election together and been successful?
06:35For when I think about the timing, good question.
06:41I don't think I can tell you of a specific timeline of what we've done.
06:45Typically, we'd like to have additional timing.
06:47That's why in the legislation, one of the things we did ask for is for E-88 cutoff in the legislation, which was helpful for us because that gives us time to start preparing and not have other add-ons to the legislation.
07:01So that was really appreciated on behalf of the members.
07:05So there's not a specific timeline that I can tell you the earliest that I've ever run an election.
07:10I think it may have been the recall election in the past, but we had a little bit of a heads up on that one.
07:16But this is coming through the gate quickly, and that's why we're responding as fast as we can.
07:21So this potentially could be the shortest timeline you've pulled an election together?
07:24Could potentially, yes.
07:25Okay, which also makes me nervous when we've talked in extensive amounts on this committee, particularly about making sure that all voters' voices are heard.
07:35And although I can appreciate COVID, it seemed like daily things were changing, it was still during a general election that we knew was coming.
07:42So I think that's a little bit different, but it seems like you're up for the challenge.
07:46So then my next question is, is this process fair to county registrars and elections officials who already face tremendous pressure to ensure accuracy?
07:56So I know we are—so to understand your question, you're asking if this is—
08:02I mean, your job is tough enough, and we've heard from our chair who was an elections official, this is a tough job.
08:08And now we are adding even more to your plate.
08:11I just don't think that's very fair, that we're demanding more from you guys and not really giving you much of a runway to do it.
08:18Well, I do think that the resources are going to be helpful, for sure, because it allows us—
08:23Resources meaning finances or what other resources?
08:25Funding, well, funding to be able to actually pay for it, because that is a critical need.
08:30And that's why right now I can tell you across the state there are registrars across the state that have already begun the process,
08:36because once we heard that this legislation was coming down the pike, we've begun to make plans.
08:41So, for example, in my office, we've already begun to go through our checklist and making sure that we get caught up,
08:47because there is a checklist that we're going through.
08:48So we're quickly navigating that list, and we're reaching out to our vendors, we're reaching out to our locations,
08:54because we're expeditiously trying to make sure we are ready for this election.
08:59And, yes, there's a lot of work ahead.
09:00I'm not going to say that there's not, and it's true across the state.
09:03So is it going to be a challenge?
09:05Yes, there's administrative challenges to such a short timeline.
09:08But I do believe that the elections officials in the past, they have stepped up in tremendous ways.
09:14Looking again at the 2020 election, I'm proud to say that I'm a member of this membership that has done an amazing job in the past.
09:22And I do believe we can rise to the occasion as long as we have the support and not only the funding,
09:28but the little details that we'll be working with the Secretary of State to make sure we can be effective in making sure to run these elections.
09:34So state resources have already gone into this process, is what you're telling me?
09:39No, we're planning as if it's coming, because we've read through the legislation that there will be funding for it.
09:44So we are moving forward with the assumption that we will be having resources to pay for this election from the state.
09:50Can you walk me through what this planning includes if it doesn't require funding to do?
09:55So it is a checklist where we will contact vendors to make sure that they're able to do the print jobs in time.
10:02We will be contacting our locations that we are actually able to have locations available to run these elections,
10:10which are critical because if you're a VCA versus a polling place, there's different timelines that are required.
10:15So those are factors that we're still working through because we have to be able to line up not only locations, the vendors.
10:23We have to get translators.
10:24Talking about translators, we have to make sure the translators are ready for all of this.
10:28So there's just a myriad of issues.
10:30We have a checklist to give you a context.
10:32We have a checklist of some 500 items that we're going through through every election.
10:37So we're speeding through those to make sure we don't miss anything.
10:39So one of the things I take great pride in our association is we are attention to detail.
10:45We have our checklist.
10:46We will make sure not to skip any of those.
10:48Are we going to quickly go through them to try and catch up?
10:51Yes, we will.
10:51And everybody across the state is doing that.
10:54So we are working hard with the anticipation that this is a pending legislation, that if it does go through, that we're ready to move forward to the best of our abilities, given this very compressed timeline, because it is a compressed timeline.
11:08I will acknowledge that.
11:10So no vendors, no locations.
11:12Nobody has been contacted, just the creation of a checklist.
11:14No, we've been contacting vendors.
11:16We actually have been contacting vendors, contacting locations.
11:19We are actually trying to lock down all of the locations.
11:24We have a few still outstanding for myself in Yolo County.
11:27We still have a few outstanding, but we've got most of them locked up.
11:31So there's still a process that we have to do to be able to continue to do the checklist and verify that we're ready to run the election.
11:39We're not done yet.
11:40It's an ongoing process still.
11:43When specifically did you start this process?
11:44Do you have a date?
11:45So we started when we heard, through the grapevine, there would be a potential piece of legislation coming out.
11:51When announcements started coming out, we as registrars became proactive, because you can't wait until it's already done and approved.
12:00You have to start lining up as quickly as possible.
12:02So we already started this a couple of weeks ago when word was out that there was likely a possible piece of legislation coming through.
12:10So across the state, we started contacting our vendors, our contacts, to say, in the event this happens, we want to make sure that we're ready for it.
12:21So that's primarily how we've approached it.
12:24So you haven't signed any contracts with vendors or done anything yet?
12:28At this point, we have not.
12:28You just contacted them.
12:29Yes, we are contacting them to see their availability, to see if there's locations available.
12:34So we're in the process of doing that, because, again, this hasn't officially been passed yet.
12:39We're not going to be able to do it until we know this legislation is passed.
12:42But you try and front load it as much as you can.
12:45And that's true of any election.
12:46You try and front load as much as you can in that process.
12:50Interesting.
12:51If the justification for urgency is political advantage rather than a true emergency, does this not set a very dangerous precedent for future legislatures?
13:03Well, I find it interesting that your line of questioning is on the timing and on the finance when your own party called for the recall in 2021 special election.
13:14We're not talking about the recall.
13:16I don't know why this keeps getting brought up today.
13:18I'd really like to stick to the merits of the bill.
13:21So no answer for that.
13:25I gave you my response.
13:27Would any of the witnesses like to answer that question?
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