San Mateo County is not accepting electronically-signed voter registration cards

Saying that there “is no way to validate that it’s [on the] up and up,” David Tom, Elections Manager for San Mateo County, California, told Etopia News today that his jurisdiction is not accepting electronically-signed voter registration cards (VRCs).

Commenting on neighboring Santa Clara County’s decision to accept such electronically-signed VRCs, Tom said that “one can interpret [the law] that way. I applaud them….We just don’t feel that way at this time. There are no regulations in place to assure us” that the registrations would be legitimate. “It will happen someday but not now,” he said.

There is some controversy about whether the Secretary of State, who objects to electronically-signed VRCs, has the authority to order county registrars of voters to accept or not accept electronically-signed VRCS. Elaine Larson in the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office says that that determination can be made by county authorities. David Tom of Santa Clara County, asked whether he thought that the Secretary of State had the authority to order counties to accept or not to accept such electronically-signed VRCs, replied: “I don’t know. I can’t speak to that right now.”