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FROM: C. E. Dixon, Interim County Administrator
Costa
DATE: March 15, 1984 County
SUBJECT: Legislation: AB 2375
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) B: BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a position of opposition to AB 2375 (Goggin).
BACKGROUND:
The Assistant County Registrar recommends opposition to AB 2375 because of the
additional cost and workload it will place on the Elections Department. Under current
law, each voter registration has been sequentially numbered since permanent voter
registration became law in 1936 utilizing a ten-digit number consisting of two digits
to identify the county; two alphabetic digits and six numeric digits. This numbering
system insures that no two voter registrations will ever have the same number. This
is important to the Elections staff in terms of maintaining the integrity of the
voter registration file and allows ;them to do such things as purging the file and
calling up the record of an individual voter without fear of confusion between more
than one voter.
Assemblyman Goggin has introduced AB 2375 which would require the utilization of
only a seven digit numbering system without the alphabetic prefix. The numbering
system will start over again at one million. In addition to the long term likelihood
that more than one voter will have the same number, there will be an immediate
problem in that when the current numbering system was started in 1936, the first
one million affidavits were numbered without the two-digit alphabetic prefix. When
we reached one million affidavits, the letter "A" was then attached and thereafter
'IB II, and so forth. If AB 2375 were to pass and be implemented in its current form,
we would immediately have a duplication of numbers because our current voter registra-
tion file still contains some 100,000 of that initial one million affidavits.
In order to avoid duplication of numbers, Mr. Underwood would have to manually apply
some unique number to each voter registration affidavit. This will require additional
manual work. In addition, since the voter registration file is computerized,
changing the numbering system would require substantial reprogramming. Mr. Underwood
reports that the present numbering system works well ; has been working well for
nearly fifty years, and we see no reason to undergo the additional cost of changing
a system which is working satisfactorily.
We, therefore, recommend that the Board oppose AB 2375 as introduced.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: I
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
X APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE(S)
ACTION OF BOARD ON March APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 000176
UNANIMOUS (ABSENT __Q` ) I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
AYES: NOES: AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
OF SUPERVISO ON THE DATE SHOWN.
County Administrator
CC:c: County Clerk-Recorder ATTESTED
Assistant County Registrar J.R. OLSSON. COUNTY ERK
Legislative Delegation A EX OFFICIO CLERK OF THE BOARD
Assemblyman Terry Goggin,
Maesi7-,,CSAC; Assembly Elections Committee BY DEPUTY