Students, add this to the to-do list between now and finals week: Apply for federal food assistance before the fast-approaching end of a rule that allows more folks to qualify.

Starting June 10, students whose families could not contribute a dollar to their education or who are approved for federal or state work-study programs will no longer be automatically eligible for CalFresh, the program formerly known as food stamps. Instead, students will have to seek those benefits through a stricter set of eligibility rules that limit how many low-income people enrolled in college can receive food aid.The imminent deadline — the result of a federal health order sunsetting — is putting pressure on California campus officials, both public and private, and state agencies to inform students these benefits are ending soon.

Everyone — advocates, researchers, college social service coordinators and county officials — says the time is now for students to apply. Seeking the aid before the rules tighten again could buy a previously ineligible student as much as a year of time on food assistance, they say. A qualifying student could get up to $281 a month to pay for groceries.Beyond a matter of basic necessity, ensuring students aren’t hungry has clear academic benefits, including higher college graduation rates, studies have shown.

“There is a scramble right now,” said Brandi Simonaro of CalState Chico’s Center for Healthy Communities, which holds a state contract to help students apply for food assistance on 48 mostly public college campuses statewide.

Part of the challenge, she said, is misinformation among campus officials about CalFresh’s complex and changing eligibility rules; she fears the confusion will discourage students from applying.

Marcia Garcia guides students through the CalFresh application process at UC Berkeley and sees firsthand how pressed for time they are, especially for those with jobs or children.

“I think there’s always this concern, right, that not everyone is going to learn about these resources in time,” she said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 127,000 California college students received CalFresh, even though anywhere from 416,471 to 689,233 students were likely eligible.

The rush to get the word out underscores advocates’ long-held frustration with the federal government, which they say blocks many students from vital food aid — a policy holdover from the 1970s when most college students in the U.S. were thought to be well-off.

Today, far more students from low-income families attend college — and need food assistance that most don’t get. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 127,000 California college students received CalFresh, even though anywhere from 416,471 to 689,233 students were likely eligible, according to a 2020 state report that relied on 2018-2019 data. In the same year, according to the California Student Aid Commission, 1 in 3 students reported experiencing food insecurity in any given month.

The low participation rate has made college students a group of particular focus for policymakers and anti-hunger advocates in California, which already struggles to deliver food aid to all who qualify. Only about 70% of Californians who are eligible for food stamps receive them, compared to about 82% for the rest of the nation.

There’s evidence the expanded eligibility rules led to more college students receiving CalFresh. In December 2020, a month before the temporary new rules kicked in, nearly 120,000 college students in California were receiving CalFresh. By September 2021, that number grew to over 140,000, according to the California Department of Social Services, citing its most recent data in an email to CalMatters.

Groceries from the CalFresh program on Jocelyn Gonzalez Fierro’s kitchen counter at her residence in Chico on March 15, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

The department said it lacks the data to know how many students will lose CalFresh benefits once the health emergency ends.

The expanded eligibility triggered a huge jump in student applications. On the 48 campuses where the Center for Healthy Communities works, the number of students applying for food aid jumped from 2,963 in late summer of 2020 to 12,051 a year later and just over 16,000 in late summer 2022.

But because of complex eligibility rules, students often have their food aid applications denied by county welfare departments, which administer CalFresh on behalf of the state. For example, Simonaro said the state told the center only about half the applications it has helped students submit are approved.

Food assistance eligibility

Under a 1977 federal law, most college students are ineligible for food assistance by default.

It’s a rule based on outdated notions of who’s attending college, advocates say.

“There was definitely an image of traditional college students … that they were 18- and 19-year-olds right out of high school, with no dependents being supported by their parents even if they weren’t living with them,” said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, deputy executive director for policy at the left-leaning Center for Law and Social Policy.

Students who are enrolled in classes at least half-time and are between the ages of 18 and 49 can normally only get food aid if they work at least 20 hours a week — an amount of time that some research says ultimately hurts students academically.

Or, they must satisfy one of roughly a dozen narrow exemptions, such as being a single parent, having a disability or enrolling in specific academic and workforce training programs. Students also then need to meet the program’s regular income requirements: a maximum of about $27,000 a year for a single-person household, not including grants, loans and scholarships, and then a second income test.

The patchwork of eligibility criteria and exemptions hits community college students in particular.

Some students receiving the state’s main financial aid award — the Cal Grant — qualify for food assistance if they also meet income and campus meal plan requirements. California pays for the awards with some federal welfare funds, and anyone receiving a welfare-funded program can also get CalFresh.

But the shortcut only applies to Cal Grant students who attend a California State University, University of California or a private college — and not to the vast majority of community college students. That’s because only Cal Grant awards that cover tuition are funded with welfare dollars. Cal Grants for community college students don’t pay for tuition but instead provide them cash awards, which don’t qualify for federal welfare funding. Federal rules say financial aid can lead to CalFresh eligibility only if the aid covers tuition and course fees. As a result, most community college students can get CalFresh through the Cal Grant only after they transfer to a four-year university in California.

California lawmakers could change this, a Century Foundation researcher argued in a 2020 report, by using federal welfare funds to pay for the Promise Grant, a tuition waiver nearly 1 million community college students receive. That would allow those students easy eligibility for food assistance if they also meet the income rules.California has added ways for students to qualify for aid. For example, a 2021 law requires campuses to tell the state which academic programs could boost students’ abilities to get jobs — programs that would allow students to get CalFresh. To date, thousands of programs are on the list.

Student confusion

Chico State senior Jocelyn Gonzalez Fierros only learned she was eligible for CalFresh because the university emailed her to say she met one of the pandemic-induced expanded eligibility criteria.

She’s still receiving CalFresh this year, but under a different exception: Because her parents’ incomes rose, she’s no longer getting the state financial aid, but still qualifies for food assistance through her job as an outreach coordinator for the Center for Healthy Communities.“It’s very confusing just because your situation can change within a course of six months,” Fierros said.

Researchers and college aid administrators said beleaguered counties can create additional roadblocks for students seeking aid.Because county agencies are funded based on how many people already receive aid and not how many apply, welfare officials say they’re understaffed for surges in student applications, which can take longer to process and are harder to qualify because of the student eligibility rules.

It took Raksha Rajeshmohan, 19, two tries to get CalFresh, despite easily qualifying because she works two part-time jobs on top of taking a full courseload at UC Berkeley.

The second-year public health student applied for CalFresh online after hearing about it from a friend. She had trouble her first attempt. A letter from the agency scheduling a phone interview arrived a week late; she said the phone call never came. After waiting more than a month, she got a denial letter for turning in images rather than documents of her paystubs.

An agency spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Rajeshmohan was approved for CalFresh this January after turning in more detailed documentation. The roughly $250 a month she gets allows her to pick more nutritious, costlier foods at the store, and pack lunches rather than skipping them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if students studying other things or who don’t have knowledge about this program aren’t as motivated to apply and see it through,” she said. “I think the way that the system is laid out is quite confusing.”

What’s next

Once a student receives CalFresh under the expanded criteria, they’ll continue getting the food aid until they have to recertify their eligibility — usually after about a year.

But students who have already enrolled under the expanded criteria will need to recertify that they’re eligible under the more limited list starting this July. It’s likely that many students will lose eligibility, but the department of social services did not know just how many would drop off the aid.

“If they don’t meet another exemption and are still looked at as a student (when it’s time to recertify eligibility) then they will no longer be eligible, which is really scary,” Simonaro said.While the state cannot change federal eligibility rules, it is working to ease the process of renewing or applying for CalFresh.

Already 45 counties are accepting public benefits applications, including for food aid, on a new website called BenefitsCal.com with a student-friendly section as well. By November, all 58 counties are expected to be using the site. For the first time, applicants can schedule appointments with their county case managers digitally, message them online, update their address or report a change in their circumstances.

The website also allows users to upload and receive all their necessary documents to maintain their eligibility. Moving more of the process online should help students, Garcia of UC Berkeley said. Last week she met a student who for six months had been approved for benefits but didn’t know it. The student never got a call or letter from the county informing them of their benefits.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Susan Louise Vandermeer — beloved sister and sister-in-law; awesome aunt, great-aunt and cousin; kind and faithful friend, co-worker, and neighbor — passed away peacefully at home on the afternoon of March 10, 2023. She was surrounded by her family, who were holding her hands and sharing “Susie memories.”

Susan was born in Everett, Washington, on April 17, 1955, to Fred and Louise Vandermeer. As a child she grew up with two brothers, Steven and Cy, while her father worked as a teacher. When Susan was two years old the family moved to Southern California, and in 1963 they moved to Felton, near Santa Cruz. She graduated from San Lorenzo Valley High School in 1973 and attended Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, where she sang with the Chamber Singers and met dear lifelong friends David LoVine and Bobbi Mitchell. Susan had a beautiful and confident Alto voice. She later also attended Modesto Junior College and College of the Redwoods.

Over the years Susan (who was an absolute foodie!) worked in restaurants; in a hardware store in Utah, where she was a purchasing agent; at Orchard Supply Hardware in Modesto, where she was a supervisor and assistant manager; at a bank in Modesto, where she was an assistant to the Vice President; and in the Humboldt County District Attorney’s office, where she worked as a Legal Office Assistant and Community Services Officer from February, 2005, until her retirement on May 22, 2020.

Susan formed many deep and lasting friendships during her years in Humboldt County. As a member of the legal community, she was a longtime member of the Humboldt County Legal Professionals Association, maintaining her membership after her retirement. She had a love of music and enjoyed going to concerts and theater events with friends, and learned how to play the dulcimer during her retirement. Susan was an excellent cook, and there are many of us who remember the wonderful spiced nuts and toffee she made at Christmas time. Susan also was a skilled quilter and received a ribbon for one of her quilts in a show.

She loved scrapbooking. As the family historian, Susan was the keeper of the records and photographs, and she was the one who kept in communication with her extended family. Susan got together often with her Vandermeer cousins and attended several reunions. After she fell ill, Susan prepared several folders and boxes of mementos and photos for her nieces and nephews in anticipation of her passing.

Susan is survived by her brother Cy Vandermeer and his wife Julie of Dallas, Oregon; sister-in-law Liz Vandermeer of McKinleyville; niece Katie Baker and her husband David of Washougal, Washington; niece Abby McCourt and her husband Tyler of Dallas, Oregon; nephew Jim Vandermeer and his wife Annie of Woodland Park, Colorado; nephews Aaron Vandermeer of McKinleyville and Cy Vandermeer and his wife Laura of Arcata; and 17 great-nieces and great-nephews, in addition to numerous cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Steve. A private family service will be held at a later date.

We miss and love you, dear Susan. Godspeed.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Susan Vandermeer’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

We are saddened to announce the sudden passing of Kevin Charles Elderkin, 71 years old. He passed away unexpectedly on February 20, 2023 and will be missed dearly.

Kevin was born on November 21, 1951 to Charles and Dorothy Elderkin. He was raised in Valley Stream, New York, until his family relocated to Southern California, in his early teens. He attended Eisenhower High School, then graduated from Cal State Fullerton and later married his loving wife, Linda, in 1976. Kevin and Linda relocated to Washington, and then eventually moved back to California where they became long-time residents of Ferndale and built their dream home. Kevin worked for New York Life Insurance Co. and was a local farrier, until he pursued a career with State Farm Insurance. He dedicated his career to State Farm, where he served as an agent to the local community for over 43 years.

Kevin was highly active in his life and enjoyed spending time with his family, working on his property, and raising his horses and Alaskan Malamute dogs. He enjoyed western movies and building wooden ship models, and he was passionate about early American history. Kevin looked forward to his daily talks with his three children and telling jokes to his grandchildren. He had a profound sense of humor, was quick to tell a funny story and will be remembered for his integrity, whit, kindness, and overall good nature. Kevin was focused on family and was a proud father, loving husband and grandfather, and a supportive father-in-law. He was the most hardworking and dedicated father who loved unconditionally and did everything in his will to provide his family with the best. We are forever grateful for that.

He will be forever remembered and cherished by his loving wife of over 47 years, Linda, and his three children — Ryan (Jennifer) Elderkin, Courtney (Mike) Acorn, and Brittany (Silverio) Garcia. He is also survived by his sister, Patricia (Mike) Russell. Kevin is preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Dorothy. He was the proud grandpa to five beautiful grandchildren who he adored dearly, Charlotte, Loclynn, Irelynn, Lillian and Kevin.

Kevin will be greatly missed by many. Private family services will be held at a later date. Condolences can be sent to the family address below: PO Box 398 Fortuna, CA 95540.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Kevin Elderkin’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

PREVIOUSLY: Will Eureka Finally See Development on the Big Gravel Lots by the Boardwalk? City Looks to Declare the Parcels Surplus and Seek Proposals for Mixed-Use Project.

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After 30 years of failed attempts, the City of Eureka is embarking on yet another effort to revitalize a cluster of vacant parcels along the city’s waterfront.

The Eureka Planning Commission adopted a resolution on Monday to declare these city-owned parcels “surplus,” in accordance with the California Land Surplus Act, to allow the city to lease or sell the properties to make way for mixed-use development.

The three parcels in question occupy a four-and-three-quarter-acre stretch along the boardwalk between the C and F street plazas. The land is zoned waterfront commercial, which also allows hotels and motels as principally permitted uses. With a conditional use permit, the properties could also include professional offices, warehouses, multi-family units and upper-floor residences.

The sites may be developed individually or merged into one or two parcels, but the development must contain a minimum of 95 dwelling units ranging from “affordable” to “very low income” according to the most recent housing element of the city’s General Plan, Principal Planner Kristen Goetz explained.

Commissioner Delores Freitas asked if there were other sites available in the city for affordable to very-low-income housing. 

“If somebody has a site that’s willing to talk with us about [the city] having site control over it in one manner or another we would certainly be open to the opportunity to talk with them,” Goetz said. “They just need to keep in mind that it’s got to support a certain number of housing units and density requirements, be in the proper zoning district, those kinds of things. But we’re absolutely happy to talk to somebody about any site that they might have that’s available.”

Commissioner Michael Kraft asked if the parcels would be primarily used for affordable to very-low-income housing or if “visitor-serving mixed-used” was still on the table. “Are we still talking, potentially, about housing on the second floor and mixed-use below?” he asked.

“The RFP … will be going out very soon for all of the 11 remaining sites, not including the LINC Housing sites,” Goetz said. “Generally, I think that the descriptions for these sites are going to include …  mixed-use structures, probably not covering all three of the lots entirely, but with green space and open space and housing above [with] various kinds of mixed uses, not just retail. … We’ll have to just wait and see what developers come back with.”

Speaking during public comment, Eureka resident Dan Dion urged the city to develop the parcels, noting that “these particular properties are on the edge of blight and [are] in miserable condition.” He added that turning the vacant lots into housing would be “an incredibly sensible proposal.”

Adam Dick, co-owner of Dick Taylor Craft Chocolates, agreed that something ought to be done with the lots but asked the city to reconsider potential development on the parcel that runs parallel to the waterfront.

“I will first make it clear that I obviously have a bias in how this all develops,” Dick said, noting that his business sits on a property adjacent to the parcel in question. “When I look at these three parcels, the one that I really feel that the city should hold on to, or really reconsider the use of, is the one that parallels the boardwalk. Obviously, significant development there would affect the view – that’s fine. … But by the time you put an access corridor through there, potentially a two-way street, angled parking [and] sidewalks, you’ve really eaten into a gigantic portion of that piece of property and there isn’t a lot left for development closer to the boardwalk.”

Dick also expressed concern about building height and subsequent shading along the boardwalk. “Anything built too tall right next to the boardwalk will shade it for significant portions of the year and it’ll be really, really cold,” he said.

Robert Maxon, owner of Globe Properties in Eureka, manages properties throughout Eureka and has an office on First Street, near HealthSport. Maxon recalled the previous efforts by the city to revitalize the vacant lots, including its most recent attempt in 2016 which resulted in several potential project designs that were never realized.

“[There’s] nothing but potential for what could happen down there,” Maxon said. “When this project came before the commission [a few years ago] it was really surprising that it was so heavily weighted towards housing when previously – through the design charrette and everything – there were all these other ideas. … There was a lot of talk about hotels, housing, the parking that would be required for those kinds of things and how quickly the parking could eat up potential space. I think we do need housing down there, but it’s gonna be very important to have that mix.”

Maxon credited the city for taking the time to fix the city’s General Plan and Local Coastal Plan (LCP) before launching a request for proposals (RFP) for the project. “Let’s just keep moving forward,” he said.

Greg Pierson, president of the Pierson Company, also has connections to Eureka’s waterfront through Bayfront One, a mixed-use development on First and F Streets. He acknowledged the importance of creating more housing in Eureka but asked: “Why is our boardwalk the best place to do it?”

Pierson | Screenshot

“I worked with the city to provide property for low-income housing on the Sunset parcel with the idea that that was taking care of the low-income housing needs of the community,” Pierson said. “Now I’m seeing that the boardwalk is being possibly slated for 95 more very low-income housing units. … I’m just wondering what’s driving that because I don’t understand it and I think the community needs to understand what is required [and] what is available within the city inventory to meet those needs.”

Following public comment, Freitas said she had mixed feelings about how the parcels should be developed. “I am totally in support of it conceptually,” she said. “It is a little bit bittersweet knowing that so many people wanted so many different things for the site and it is such a prime site in the city and we just haven’t found a way in the last eight years since we did visioning to achieve some of those other dreams.”

She acknowledged Pierson’s call for more community involvement in the development process and encouraged residents to share their concerns with city staff.

Kraft agreed, noting that “the rubber meets the road at the RFP” and encouraged citizens reach out ahead of the RFP process.

“Staff is [currently] putting together a draft of that RFP,” Goetz said. “It will go to the city council, I’m shooting for the first meeting in April. That would be a time when members of the public can provide comments, either to the council in written form before the meeting or come to the meeting and provide comments at the meeting. Staff is happy to listen to any thoughts or ideas that folks have.”

After a bit more conversation, Freitas made a motion to approve staff’s recommendation to declare the city-owned parcels “surplus,” which was seconded by Kraft. The motion passed in a unanimous 4-0 vote, with Vice-Chair Craig Benson absent.

The Eureka City Council is expected to discuss the item early next month.

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At the beginning of Monday’s meeting, Commission Chair Meredith Maier noted that staff had removed an item from the agenda that would declare another Old Town parcel as surplus. Formerly home to the Liberty movie theater, the 3,145-square-foot brick building, known as Nealis Hall, now houses an annex to the Clark Historical Museum next door. The Outpost noted in a previous story that if the building were to be declared surplus by the city, it could be acquired by the museum for continued use as an annex, or it could be remodeled into something else entirely.

Well, that news prompted the Clarke Historial Museum to issue a call to action via social media to save the museum. A subsequent Instagram post noted that the City of Eureka agreed to pull the item from the commission’s agenda as a result of public outcry and “the Clarke team taking action.”

Good work, everyone! Nealis Hall is safe!

HUMBOLDT TODAY: Humboldt’s flood waters are expected to recede and there may even be consecutive days of sunshine, if you can believe. Plus, four people have been arrested on child pornography charges. And the latest on California’s canceled salmon season. Those stories and more on today’s newscast with John Kennedy O’Connor.

FURTHER READING: 

• Beloved LoCO Mascot ‘Coney’ Has Been Fully Assimilated Into the Caltrans Borg
• HUMBOLDT CONVERSATIONS: Catching Up With New County Clerk/Recorder/Registrar Juan Pablo Cervantes
• Student Housing: State’s Promise to Build More Dorms Hits Setbacks
• No California Salmon: Fishery to Be Shut Down This Year
• As Emergency Aid Flows to Flooded-Out Californians, Will Cannabis Farmers Be Left Out?

HUMBOLDT TODAY can be viewed on LoCO’s homepage each night starting at 6 p.m.

Want to LISTEN to HUMBOLDT TODAY? Subscribe to the podcast version here.

Well, here’s something.

Coney warning LoCO readers about poor highway road conditions in January 2016.

Longtime LoCO readers no doubt hold a special place in their heart for “Coney,” the beloved road conditions spokesperson who made his debut in these pages in January 2016, as best we can tell.

Coney was a smash viral hit for a while there, and Outpost readers came to depend on the goofy dude for stable, sober road condition updates when required. To this day, you can still see his phiz cluttering up the LoCO Highways page.

Back then Coney was so popular, in fact, that Caltrans HQ wrote to ask us to use his brilliant image in their internal communications. LoCO granted this request, and maintain in our legal files examples of such communications dated October 2017, with proper attribution. (See, inter alia, here and here.)

This asshole. Image: Caltrans.

Coney went quiet for awhile. There were rumors around the office that he did a stint at a Beverley Hills rehab facility, fame having been thrust on him at a too-tender age. We don’t want to talk about it.

But then recently we got word that Caltrans had got itself a new mascot, and … whaddaya know! Rising up from the sewers like the underground-dwellers in Us comes the dipshit you see on your right! 

“What on Earth is that abomination?” you ask. “Did they learn nothing from Poochie?” Great questions. The answers: That abomination is a thing that Caltrans is calling “Safety Sam,” and no they did not.

“Safety Sam.” Cool hat, bro!

“Safety Sam” got his name from a statewide Caltrans contest open to young people. A precocious Huntington Beach child was declared the winner, after that child’s name was drawn from a hat filled with the names of 27 children to submit “Safety Sam” into the contest.

So get used to “Safety Sam,” everyone! He’s going to be clogging up all your socials soon, and there is even a six-foot tall animatronic version of him that they’re going to wheel out to special events to terrify babies with.

Yesterday, the Outpost caught up with Juan Pablo Cervantes, the county’s new Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters, to see how his tenure in the office has gone so far.

Cervantes spoke with the Outpost’s John Kennedy O’Connor about a wide range of subjects, including ranked-choice voting, campaign finance reform and how he’s managing the clerk-recorder section of his bifurcated office — a relatively blank area of his resume, which garnered him some criticism on the campaign trail last year.

Video above. Transcript below.

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JOHN KENNEDY O’CONNOR:

Well, I’m really pleased to welcome to Lost Coast Outpost.com Juan Pablo Cervantes, who’s the County Clerk Recorder and Registrar of Voters. Actually very new in the position: Last time we spoke you were actually in the election process, so congratulations on winning that election.

Now during that election your opponent did make a bit of a campaign issue with the fact that you had a lot of election experience but you didn’t have much in terms of the County Clerk Recorder. So how has that side of it been going for you since you’ve been elected? 

JUAN PABLO CERVANTES:

It’s been great. Going well. One of the other candidates in the race early on, Ben Herschberger, was promoted as interim manager. And so he’s been overseeing the day-to-day operations. I help when it comes to the vision or the broader outlook of where the office is going and how it’s transitioning. But a lot of my work right now is catching up in those places. I have a pretty strong confidence in my knowledge here [in the Elections Office]. It’s picking up where I’m weak, which is over there.

O’CONNOR:

Now, there was an election last week, actually, in the southern part of the county, but there’s a lot of elections coming up. So what’s coming up in the future?

CERVANTES:

So there’s potential elections. There’s a November district election that tends to not go to election because there’s not enough candidates for the special district or school board seats. And so that’s potentially coming up in November. And then beyond that, it’s election season 2024. Presidential. And so we’ll have a party primary and then a general. 

O’CONNOR:

Now, the City of Eureka did pass what’s called the Ranked Choice Voting Ordinance in 2020 ,but it wasn’t able to be implemented since we didn’t have the technology. Has that situation changed now?

CERVANTES:

Yeah, we’re working with the … the technology is currently being certified by the Secretary of State so our vendor, Hart Intercivic, based out of Austin, Texas is working on a tabulation component of it. Now, tabulation is is the math part of election. So we have a hardware and software that does everything but the math part of it. That’s at the end. That’s the thing that will generate results for us. And so they’re currently working with the Secretary of State to certify the system to do so.

O’CONNOR:

So will it be implemented for this year’s election cycle?

CERVANTES:

That’s the goal. We’ll know shortly.

O’CONNOR:

We saw it actually in practice last week at the Board of Supervisors meeting. It didn’t go particularly well, because I think they were very confused. So is there going to be an education process that people will really understand, voters will understand exactly how it really works?

CERVANTES:

I’m hoping to coordinate with the city of Eureka on that. I’m open to administering almost any type of election process, so long as it’s legal and it doesn’t disenfranchise voters. Ranked choice voting is one of those things that I could go either way.

And the thing that makes the difference is the education component of it. Voters need to not be surprised when they get their ballot. The instruction booklet that we give them with their ballot should not be how they learn how to use ranked choice voting. It’s critical for us to start developing an educational campaign today. And that can involve every stage of the process. We need to be out in schools and talking to the high school kids that are going to be first-time voters. We need to be out in the community. We need to be looking at the local stakeholders, communities of interest. And we need to be out there showing them the process, doing mock elections, just making it something that people are comfortable with when the time comes for them to cast their one vote.

O’CONNOR:

It may not be indicative, but at the Board of Supervisors, when they finally got the result, they just simply didn’t understand how it had got there. So I think that may be an issue that people really do need to understand.

CERVANTES:

Absolutely. In order to … when you make something more complicated, everybody on board needs to understand how those complications work. Otherwise it could seem like your vote is being manipulated. We need to avoid the appearance of Calvin Ball.

O’CONNOR:

Now, talking of which, and I know this is something that when we last talked you were very confident it’s not an issue, but it seems to keep going on nationally in a discourse that people are worried about voter fraud and so many national figures claim elections are being stolen because of voter fraud.

Now, you’re very confident it’s not an issue here in Humboldt County, but how can you reassure voters who may be on the side of “oh no, it’s all rigged,” that that’s just not the case?

CERVANTES:

So I only ever speak with certainty about Humboldt County. It’s the county that I have any say in how it gets administered, it’s the county that I’m familiar with.

I think a lot of those principles are true statewide, but speaking for Humboldt County, we have the gold standard of the process. We use paper ballots that you can verify. When you put your paper ballot into our ballot box, you can see and read and understand what’s going on with that ballot. And it’s an auditable paper trail for your voting. And so we use optical scanners which check that human-readable ballot. We have a 1% manual tally where we have people do a hand count of 1% of all ballots randomly selected. And so we’re checking that equipment.

And this whole process is open to the public and transparent. We invite the public to be a part of that process and work with our partners and Access Humboldt to make that more accessible to people. And I think those endeavors in being transparent and acting in such a way that ego isn’t involved, that you’re open to a process that checks your work. I think that’s key. I think when people see that, when they participate in that, I think they believe.

O’CONNOR:

I think you’re right, absolutely, that’s what Humboldt Today viewers want to know as well.

Now just very quickly, because you came hot foot to talk to us today from the Board of Supervisors meeting where campaign finance was on the agenda today. That’s an issue that you have some thoughts on as well.

CERVANTES:

Yeah, I mean, I have some thoughts. One of the privileges of my position is that I don’t create legislation, I just administer it. And so the stress is on the board of supervisors to make those kinds of calls. But the topic of campaign finance came with contribution limits. And so the board’s looking at reducing the $1,500 contribution limit to $500 or anywhere in between that. That’s their decision, and I don’t have much of an opinion on that officially.

The other bit is that there’s a special circumstance in the county ordinance where that contribution limit could get increased to $5,000 based on independent expenditures. And it gets really complicated from there. An independent expenditure is an expenditure by a party separate from the candidates without coordinating with the candidates. And if they do that above $10,000, that limit increases to $5,000. And so it’s a piece of the ordinance that may have made sense at one point, but at this point is just very confusing. So the board is seeking to clarify that.

O’CONNOR:

If they do that, what impact does that have on your work and your office?

CERVANTES:

If they remove it, it makes things simpler, because we’re who gets called to explain that piece of ordinance. And so it makes it easier for us to have that conversation with somebody running for office for the first time. That’s the only impact it has on our office.

O’CONNOR:

Well, Juan Pablo, it’s great to see you again. Congratulations again on winning the election. Good luck with the election season this year, and we’ll be in touch again very soon, I’m sure. 

CERVANTES:

Thank you.