New San Joaquin County registrar of voters embraces technology

STOCKTON — The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday named Melinda Dubroff the new registrar of voters.

“I am delighted,” Dubroff said to the board. She will start her new position on June 26.

“I am very much looking forward to bringing principles of the nonpartisan election administrator to San Joaquin County,” she said. “To me, that means fair, accurate, secure and transparent elections.”

During a brief appointment on the consent calendar, Supervisor Kathy Miller said the position is important to everyone in San Joaquin County, and the power of voting is critical as a nation.

“We’re very glad to have you on board and have a registrar on duty,” Miller said to Dubroff.

Dubroff, 45, replaces Austin Erdman, who retired in March after serving as registrar for eight years.

For the past two years, Dubroff has worked as the elections specialist supervisor for San Mateo County. Prior to that, she was the county’s elections specialist from 1999 to 2015.

Dubroff’s salary and benefits are $234,856 annually, and she was one of five candidates considered for the position, according to a staff report prepared for board members.

Dubroff graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and public safety.

In the staff report, Dubroff ’s qualifications include experience with voter registration, vote by mail, and sample ballot and official ballot development. She also has experience with public relations and social media, policy and procedure development, among other qualifications.

Outside the board chambers on the sixth floor of the San Joaquin County Administration building, Dubroff said she wants to raise civic literacy and participation to reach younger voters.

For the 2016 general election, turnout in San Joaquin County was 69 percent, with more than 94,000 mail-in ballots.

It was the highest turnout in the county since 79 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 2008 general election.

She said she hopes to encourage more young people to vote by further embracing technology.

“Reaching the younger voters is important,” said Dubroff. “If we don’t do that, we’re doing a disservice to the taxpayers . ... Having information available on mobile devices and the county’s website is fantastic; we need to bring that up to speed.”