Voting centers coming to South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County, public input sought

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Heading to the polls will soon have a different meaning to the voters of South Lake Tahoe and the rest of California as the one-day voting period ends and initiation of voting centers begin.

With the passage of SB450, the 2016 Voter's Choice Act, 11-day and 4-day voting centers are planned to begin in 2020 after being started in 2018 with pilot centers in five counties: Madera, Nevada, Napa, Sacramento and San Mateo. El Dorado County will start vote centers in the 2020 election pending approval from the Board of Supervisors.

For years there has been a sharp decline in voters at precincts, and in the recent March 2019 election, 94 percent of ballots received were mailed in. 80 percent of County voters request mail-in ballots, a figure that has been on the rise since 2001.

Legislation has locked the County into the number of polling places allowed (102), and even with the majority of voters turning in ballots via mail, the precincts must stay open at a cost to the taxpayers. A high for the county at the polling places was 39,852 and the low is at 7,549. Provisional ballots have been on the increase, from 10 in 2002 to the latest general election at 2,641.

As most in South Lake Tahoe area aware, the 2018 Measure T final count came in almost 30 days after the election due to the increase in provisionals.

If there were no election day precincts this number would drop and results would be known sooner.

The rules of SB450 are set in stone and the El Dorado County Registrar of Voters Bill O'Neill said that while they have to follow it, where the vote centers are located is up to the community. He has suggestions based on demographics but said he really wants the community to let his department know where they want them, or don't want them.

To accomplish this, O'Neill and his staff are holding a series of Town Hall meetings next week around the County to solicit input from the voters. The meetings will also be used to educate the public on what the Vote Center is and how it works.

The South Lake Tahoe meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, in the Lake Tahoe Community College Aspen Room at 6:00 p.m. There will also be a meeting in the County Board of Supervisors meeting room on Monday, May 20 at 6:00 p.m. and at the El Dorado Hills Fire Station on Wednesday, May 22, also at 6:00 p.m.

El Dorado County is required to have one center per 50,000 voters that is open for eleven days leading up to election day, so three county-wide. They must have one addition center open for four days, one for every 10,000 voters, so ten required for the county.

Also required under SB140 is one drop box for every 15,00 voters, so nine for the county.

The Town Hall meeting will help determine where the centers and boxes will be located throughout El Dorado County.

When in place, voters at a Vote Center can get services normally only available at the election office:
- Vote at any center
- Vote during a eight-hour window, at least
- Conditionally register to vote
- Vote with or without their mailed ballot (reduces provisional ballots)

Vote Centers are meant to be more convenient for voters
- Open for 11 days, including weekends
- Drop ballot in boxes where they already go, like grocery stores and library

The test areas had positive outcomes. In Sacramento they saw an 11 percent increased in "very satisfied" voters, Nevada County's provisional ballots went from 1,500 to 7, and their voters appreciated knowing their ballot was counted and not somewhere in the mail.

When determining the 14 locations, the County will use the following criteria:

Identify locations for Centers and Drop Boxes using the 14:
 Number of Vote Centers and Drop Boxes for our Community
 Secure and Reliable Network Connectivity
 Proximity to public transit
 Proximity to communities with historically low vote by mail usage
 Proximity to population centers
 Proximity to language minority communities
 Proximity to voters with disabilities
 Proximity to communities with low rates of vehicle ownership
 Proximity to low-income communities
 Proximity to communities of eligible voters that are not registered
 Proximity to geographically isolated populations (i.e. Native Reservations)
 Access to free parking
 Time and distance a voter must travel to reach a location
 The need for alternate voting method for voters with disabilities
 Traffic patterns
 The need for mobile vote centers in addition to those established by Senate Bill 450
 Serve our outlying areas