Tricia is both County Clerk & Registrar of Voters; she came to Santa Cruz in 1997, having followed a boy from college - she's from Santa Ynez, near Solvang (the Danish capital of the USA), & was at Fresno State, working for the Curry Company in Yosemite Valley, but when the park closed due to flooding, her boyfriend at the time suggested she move with him to Santa Cruz - he's now her husband. How did she get into County clerk job? Her mother-in-law had been helping with the elections department for a long time, and said, "Why don't you help with elections?" It was 1997, & she hired on to help with the 1998 election; she went to full timein 2006, first in Clerk Services, later with elections, and, in 2020, became Assistant County Clerk to now Assemblymember Gail Pellerin; Tricia's mom moved to Santa Cruz in the 1960s and was one of the first employees at Cabrillo College. The Registrar of Voters is the chief elections person in the county for local, state & federal elections - yesterday was the deadline for state ballot initiatives (& the "billionaire tax" initiative is still on the ballot). The County Clerk is the chief commissioner of marraiges, with the authority to conduct marriage ceremonies, deputize others to conduct them; plus handles notaries, passports, and fictitious business names. There are 14 employees in the office, including her, with 50 hired as extra help at election time, plus 300-350 volunteers (what we used to call poll workers). Mail-in ballots are required by law to be sent to everyone, and 90% vote this way, although people can vote in person 29 days before election day at 3 places, and progressively more places as the election gets closer. <1% of ballots are flagged as concerning, usually because someone's signature has changed - if something is different about it or it's missing, challenged & addressed; if not, then referrred to D.A. (District Attorney) to investigate - which has happened precisely once in 28 years!! Voter trust has not changed, as everything is open & transparent. Any change in vollunteers / extra help in 28 years? She's seeing more attrition that she used to (because people are more transient), but they need fewer volunteers now (300-350 vs. 1100-1200 previously). Starting in 2017/2018, "more days, more ways" to vote, which came to Santa Cruz County in 2020, fully adopted in 2022. In state constitutional offices "Top 2" go to run-off; non-partisan offices, with the exception of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, if any candidate gets 50% + 1 vote, they won; there are only a few ballots still to "cure" - not enough to change any outcomes; the Santa Cruz Mayor's race will go to a run-off; District 3 County Supervisor was unopposed, but District 4 has one candidate with 50.9% - they manually tallied all of the District 4 ballots to be sure, with 15 different audits! "Most suprising thing you've seen?" "Really good question!" - never truly understood elections, and in one of the first elections she worked, a Santa Cruz City Councilmember won by 4 votes! Every vote counts!

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!