BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — During the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, the board approved to extend the contract with Dominion Voting Systems, A decision that will cost the county $583,812.
"This extends it two years to get us through the 2026 election system cycle and then through 2027, so that the newly appointed registrar, as long as it's approved by the state," said Auditor Controller and Registrar of Voters Aimee Espinoza. "So that that person has time to come in and actually do that RFP and make a proposal to the board."
This amid a potential change in staffing, as earlier this year the board voted to separate roles of auditor-controller and registrar of voters, a role currently held by Espinoza.
Espinoza explaining that while concerned residents have asked the board to explore switching voting systems, doing so at this moment would cost around $2 to $4 million and the changes would need to be completed before November of 2025 as the next election cycle begins this December.
"We're on board with the extension and we're on board with bringing on board a new ROV and allowing them to have the opportunity to make several key decisions on the direction of the elections department," said Charles Shinn, a longtime opponent of the Dominion Voting system.
Residents have voiced concerns over Dominion Voting since 2020, which has followed a nationwide trend. Dominion has sued several media outlets over what they claim has been false information and conspiracy theories about their voting systems. Several of those media outlets ended up settling with Dominion, but those concerns from the public extended to Espinoza herself and the elections department, prompting supervisors' decision in January to separate the role of registrar of voters as its own position.
Espinoza said she understands the concerns brought forth and hopes the community will understand that though the role is changing, the laws that govern our election systems and her are not.
"That explanation and that reality seems to not necessarily be taken into consideration. And so, hopefully someone else may be saying it a different way or something can increase folks' confidence," she said.
The contract with Dominion is being extended through 2027 at which point Espinoza said the new registrar of voters will have the opportunity to make their own request for proposal to explore other voting systems.
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