Registrar of Voters races to fix error in voter information guide

SAN JOSE » The opening lines of Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors hopeful Jason Baker’s candidate statement were left out of the June voter information guide, and now the Registrar of Voters is racing to correct the mistake as voters cast their ballots.

The error was caused by a vendor who used the wrong version of a file to produce Baker’s statement in the guide, according to Eric Kurhi, a spokesman for the registrar’s office.

Baker, one of the seven candidates running to replace termed-out District 4 Supervisor Ken Yeager, said he believes themistake may have cost him some early votes.

“The error was regrettable,” Baker said in an email. “But I really appreciate that the registrar has acted quickly and decisively to try to fix their vendor’s error as best they can.”

In a news release, the registrar’s office said it was “acting swiftly” to correct themistake, including mail-ing a letter describing the error to all 174,000 registered voters in the district.

Full statements from all seven candidates will appear in the letter, according to Kurhi.

A complete version of the guide will also be produced and distributed to District 4 polling places. The same information is available on the web at eservices.sccgov.org/Rov.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure that voters are made aware of the issue and receive the complete information,” said Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey.

The issue affects only the guides as candidate statements do not appear on official ballots.

Baker said the missing three lines touted his experience as a two-time mayor of Campbell, a forest firefighter and a graduate of the Santa Clara University School of Law.

“Voters know and like Campbell, appreciate first responders, and Santa Clara is a large part of the district,” he said.

Kurhi said the registrar’s office did not have any comment beyond its news release when asked about the possible impact of the mistake on Baker’s chances of getting elected.

An effort, meanwhile, is underway to keep the same error fromhappening in the future.

“The ROV had approved the correct file for printing, but the printing vendor used a different file that had not been approved,” Kurhi said. “We are going to be having a discussion with our vendor about steps that can be taken in the future to prevent this from happening again.”

The vendor is covering the costs associated with correcting the mistake, according to Kurhi.