These 2 stories both contain promises from Kari Verjil that this years election will be an improvement over the 2006 election.

Board certifies votes: Approval comes after hearing opposing comments.

Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Publication Date: 06-DEC-06 Byline: Ryan Orr

Dec. 6--SAN BERNARDINO -- Despite public testimony about problems at the polls from High Desert residents, the certification of the Nov. 7 election results was accepted Tuesday by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

"The backbone of freedom is elections," said Apple Valley resident Trudy Sherburne, who stated at the board meeting that the results of the election were not reliable. "Please give us a fair election," she added.

Seven people stood before the board to voice their concerns and encourage the panel's members not to accept the results that were certified Friday by Kari Verjil, the registrar of voters.

"The integrity of the election is not in question," said Verjil, proclaiming confidence in her staff and the fact that the supervisors should accept the certification.

Verjil said she was aware of isolated incidents, but that problems during the election were in no way widespread. She said it is possible poll workers could have handed out the wrong type of ballot and she believes that happened in Helendale.

"An election cannot be canceled due to a poll worker error," said Verjil.

She also said the number of ballots possibly affected would not have changed the outcome of Measure K, which called for the adoption of a Helendale community services district, which passed by 12 votes.

"In a county with 2 million residents, there are going to be a few hiccups," said 1st District spokesman David Zook.

Verjil and her 40 employees are charged with the task of serving the 751,652 eligible voters in the county, and overall she said she thinks the latest election went well.

Steve Schoenbaum of Helendale disagrees. He is part of the Committee in Opposition of Measure K.

"I would like to see something happen," he said. "If the election would have gone off without a hitch, I would have no problem admitting that we lost."

He is not sure how the committee will approach the subject, but today is the last day to demand a recount, which would cost those who demand it approximately $5,000 a day, according to Verjil.

The other option would be to pursue litigation on the matter, which can be done within 30 days of when the vote was certified. The five directors of the Helendale community services district were sworn in Monday at 4 p.m.

As for future elections, "I'm looking forward to improving the system and training the poll workers," said Verjil.

Verjil has been the county's registrar since June of 2005, the third in six years not including interim positions.

Scott Konopasek, a native of Victorville, was in the position before Verjil. He served as registrar from January 2003 to November 2004. San Bernardino County Public Information Officer David Wert said Konopasek left office after making a snide comment about elderly people.

"He said, 'Whenever you have 70-year-old people running things you're going to have problems,' talking about certain poll workers," Wert said.

He also had a reputation for getting results out late.

"He was not very popular on election night," Wert said.

Before Konopasek, Ingrid Gonzales had the office. She left in March 2002 as a consequence of the November 2001 election where, due to a computer glitch, results were posted under the wrong candidates, making some people think they had won, when they had actually lost. Because of the glitch, 13 races were recounted at the county's cost.

Grand jury finds voting problems: Registrar says issues cited in report are very minor.

Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Publication Date: 05-JUL-07 Byline: Ryan Orr

Jul. 5--In the wake of voting issues in the last election, the grand jury investigated the Registrar of Voters by observing a test of election procedures.

While the San Bernardino County grand jury's report found several problems, Registrar of Voters Kari Verjil said the issues are extremely minor.

The grand jury found that the temperature in the registrar's warehouse did not stay constant at the required 78 degrees, which is critical because of the temperature-sensitive paper of the VeriVoter printer.

Verjil said that the grand jury was there on a very hot day and that elections department workers do monitor the temperature closely and keep it at 78 degrees.

A remodel of the registrar's San Bernardino building is scheduled for September. Renovations will include an upgrade to the air-conditioning system, Verjil said.

Another problem outlined in the report -- one that occurred at several polling places in the High Desert -- was a shortage of paper ballots, especially when lines began to grow longer.

Verjil said paper ballots at the polls are for emergencies only, but she added that the registrar did seem to run out of them at several locations in the last election.

She said the department is waiting for Secretary of State Debra Bowen's recommendation on the problem, but she added that it will definitely be prepared with more ballots for the next election.

The grand jury also found that when ballots were run through eight scanners in the absentee ballot room, some of the scanners would shred and crumple ballots.

Verjil said that like any machine, the scanners are subject to paper jams but those occasions are very rare. When she issues a response to the grand jury, she said, she describes why the machines -- which go through regular maintenance checks -- do not need to be upgraded.

The building remodel will put in a poll-worker-training center, which will allow the registrar to train poll workers year-round.

With the early presidential primary scheduled for February 2008, the registrar has four elections to run in the next 16 months.