Santa Clara County Grand Jury • 2004-2005

2004-2005 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report High Fees Deter School Board Candidates

Published: November 02, 2004 19 pages
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Findings and Recommendations 5 findings

F1
The fee charged by ROV for a school board candidate's Statement on the Sample Ballot is a financial hardship, and, in some cases, a disincentive for potential candidates to run.
Related Recommendations (2)
R1A
The Board of Supervisors should review its current policy of mandating that ROV recoup all costs from the school board candidates. Recouping the total costs of publishing candidates’ Statements in the Sample Ballot should not be the primary criterion for determining fees. The Board, in conjunction with ROV, should investigate more creative solutions such as a flat fee or a fee based on a reasonable percentage of school board compensation.
R1B
ROV should make its pre-election estimate of candidates’ fees based on four candidates per page instead of two.
F2
School board candidates from the lowest income districts often had to pay the highest fees for placing a Statement on the ballot.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
See Recommendation 1A.
F3
Many in the general public have a negative perception of those school board candidates who do not publish a Statement in the Sample Ballot. In addition, the public is often not aware that a large fee is involved.
Related Recommendations (2)
R3A
In lieu of a candidate’s Statement, the Sample Ballot should contain a generic notice that the candidate declined to pay the fee necessary for publication of the Statement and refer the reader to the League of Women Voters website, www.smartvoter.org. 11
R3B
ROV should modify its webpage to refer the voter to the League of Women Voters website at www.smartvoter.org for further information on candidates. An effective way to accomplish this would be to place the link to www.smartvoter.org in a more prominent position on the ROV website instead of at the bottom of the "Candidate Profiles" page.
F4
School board candidates pay a disproportionate share for their Statement (on average over 50% of any annual compensation) while other elected County officials, such as Board of Supervisors, Sheriff, District Attorney and Assessor are exempt from this Statement fee and only pay one percent of their starting annual compensation as a filing fee. This exemption is based on the current voter-approved County Charter.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
At the time of future Charter review, the fee exemption provision should be reviewed to determine if a change should be recommended to either remove the existing exemptions or to add exemptions for other offices.
F5
The cost for a Statement has escalated due to the federal requirement for ROV to print ballots in as many as five different languages. The Grand Jury notes that ROV is innovatively and aggressively addressing the higher costs associated with multiple languages.
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
ROV, based on its Voter Language Survey, should continue to explore its legal options to reduce printing/translation/mailing costs while still meeting federal requirements. PASSED and ADOPTED by the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury on this 7th day of April, 2005. ________________________________ Michael A. Smith Foreperson 13

Conclusions 22

No Responses Found 2

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office
Santa Clara County County Superintendent of Schools Elected County Office