Solano county registrar to step down this summer

County Board of Supervisors approves 'streamlining' moves

By Jason Massad, The Vacaville Reporter, April 7, 2004



Laura Winslow, one of four California county registrars who purchased federally unqualified Diebold TSx voting machines, is stepping down from her position this summer and going into "semi-retirement".



Excerpts:



A sweeping reorganization, which Solano County officials say will "streamline" county government and not cost more money, was approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.



As part of the reorganization, the county's departments of transportation and environmental management will be merged into a Resources Management Department, and a newly created Information Technology Department will include the duties of the Registrar of Voters.



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Registrar of Voters Laura Winslow will step down from her post this summer, and the county's top transportation position has been vacant since Charlie Jones died several months ago.



Winslow's position will be dissolved to make way for a lower-paid elections manager within the Information Technology Department.



The official duties of the registrar of voters will be handed to Ira Rosenthal, the anticipated head of the IT Department who now works under the county administrator's umbrella.



That move was criticized by one person attending the meeting Tuesday because he said it could decrease the autonomy of the elections office.

Duane Kromm defended moving the responsibility for elections into a 56-person organization whose main responsibility will be to provide technical advice and expertise to all of the county's various subdivisions.



"The issue of keeping (the election's department) independent ... is up to all of us," Kromm said, noting that today's high-tech elections would be served well by the new department.