The vendor who printed and mailed a Republican ballot to all of the nearly 53,000 registered voters in Mendocino County for the March 5 Primary Election has been decertified by state officials, Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie told the Board of Supervisors this week.
“I received a phone call from the Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, May 17, to let me know that IVS, Integrated Voting Systems, has been de-certified” as a state-approved vendor,” said Bartolomie, adding that “IVS is appealing this decision through their attorneys, so I am sure we will be receiving more information about that.”
Soon after the March 5 ballots were mailed in early February, the Mendocino County Elections office reported that “all (52,800) registered voters in Mendocino County received a Republican ballot for the First Supervisorial District regardless of their party affiliation,” and that even registered Republicans who live in the First District may have received incorrect ballots, as “the Elections Office believes there may be errors in all ballots mailed out.”
At the time, Bartolomie said “the error was caused by a third-party vendor” who was not identified. When asked for more information regarding the decertification of IVS, staff at the California
Secretary of State’s Office provided these details:
“California decertified Integrated Voting Systems, Inc. (IVS) because it failed to adhere to California Election Code 13004(b) (by failing) to directly notify the Secretary of State about a ballot printing issue in Mendocino County. Elections Code requires them to notify the Secretary of State and the affected local elections official in writing within two business days after it discovers any flaw or defect in its ballot card manufactured or finished ballot cards that could adversely affect the future casting or tallying of votes.”
The Secretary of State’s Office explains that it was notified of the error by the Mendocino County Registrar of Voters, then it contacted IVS to “confirm the ballot printing issue had occurred” and to request more details, then subsequently determined that: “IVS was in violation of California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Division 7, Chapter 4, Section 20227 (because) IVS failed to notify the Secretary of State in writing that they were planning to use or were using a third-party vendor for the application of ballot tints and watermarks on ballots used in California; the third-party vendor was not certified by the Secretary of State to perform any part of the ballot printing process for California ballots, and this action violated regulatory requirements set forth in section 20227 of the California Code of Regulations.”
The Secretary of State’s Office also issued IVS a fine of $1,000 as a result of the violations.
In a letter provided by Bartolomie, attorneys representing IVS state that their clients “formally object” to the revocation of their status as a certified ballot printer, dispute the allegations as presented and “respectfully request that the California Secretary of State retract its May 17, 2024, revocation of IVS.”
As for whether the county will be contracting with another ballot printer, Bartolomie told the board Tuesday that “we have been in contact with other California-certified ballot printers, so we are working on that, and have been working on that the last several months.”
(Ukiah Daily Journal)
Be First to Comment