Concerned Voter asks Benjamin Hershberger, Juan Pablo Cervantes, Tiffany Hunt Nielsen…

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Conflicting Candidate Statements

During recent Meet the Candidate interviews on KINS, both Juan Pablo Cervantes and Tiffany Hunt Nielsen made conflicting claims regarding the selection process of our County Clerk and Registrar. As I heard it, Tiffany says that the Clerk and Registrar are appointed, and Juan Pablo says that they are elected. 

To clear up any public confusion, I am asking the candidates to confirm, or fact check, the statements being broadcast. For reference, here are the specific comments made by the candidates: 

- Tiffany describing the Clerk, Recorder and Registrar offices: “There are three job titles under one umbrella. The County Recorder is the elected position. The County Clerk and the Registrar of Voters offices are appointed by the Board of Supervisors, making the Recorder the head - department head - of those offices. So that is interesting for a lot of people, they don’t understand that.” (1:55 into interview) (link). 

- Juan addressing the claim that the Recorder, but not the Clerk, is elected: “They’re both elected. So, both offices fall under one elected official. It would not be the case that the Board of Supervisors could appoint somebody else without it going to the voters.” (7:48 into interview) (link).

 

— Concerned Voter

Responses

Juan Pablo Cervantes

I don’t think that Tiffany is intentionally misleading anyone, but she is wrong about the selection process of the County Clerk, Recorder & Registrar of Voters. It is not the case that the Recorder oversees each of the three offices. 

The selection of the Humboldt County Clerk, Recorder & Registrar is a power that belongs solely to Humboldt voters, to be decided at the ballot box. In fact, California Government Code includes specific provisions that prohibit our Board of Supervisors from appointing persons to oversee these three distinct offices. 

There are three rules you should know to understand the legal mechanics of how we select a Clerk, Recorder & Registrar:

First, Government Code specifies the ten county officials that must be “elected by the people,” including the County Clerk (inclusive of the Registrar duties) and the County Recorder. The only way that Clerk or Recorder may become appointed by the Humboldt Supervisors is if a proposition is put to Humboldt voters and is “approved by a majority of the votes cast on the proposition.” Never has such a proposition been approved by our voters. (Government Code Section 24009.)

Second, the Humboldt Board of Supervisors is permitted to consolidate elected county offices, using combinations specified in Government Code, so that the same person will hold and oversee multiple elected positions – one such combination is the Clerk and Recorder. And in 1996, our Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance to consolidate our County Clerk and Recorder offices. However, the consolidation of two offices does not result in either being abolished. So, our Clerk and Recorder remain distinct offices, even when held by the same person. (Government Code Sections 24300 and 24304; Humboldt County Code Section 2417-1.)

Third, Government Code is clear that our County Clerk (and not the Recorder) is also our Registrar of Voters. California law clearly prohibits the Humboldt County Supervisors from appointing our Registrar or separating the Registrar from the County Clerk. I am not sure what the source of the “appointment” claim is - I have looked for but have not found any evidence of the Supervisors previously voting on the appointment of the Registrar of Voters. (Government Code Sections 26802 and 26802.5; see also Government Code Section 25100.5; Elections Code Section 311 (repealed 2002))

Tiffany Hunt Nielsen

A couple emails were sent to voters regarding the County Clerk, Recorder and Registrar of Voters campaign. In my email I stated some history about the position In Humboldt County. An opponent sent an email calling me “wholly inaccurate” with the history. We can’t change the history because we don’t like it. My opponent sited some statutes in his email to voters: Government Codes 24009 & 24300 which state in part “the county officers to be elected by the people are the treasurer, county clerk, auditor, sheriff, tax collector, district attorney, recorder…”. Registrar of Voters is a County Clerk function.  It is not a stand-alone elected position. This was my point in my email to voters.

               I have 22 years’ experience working in the title industry, three years serving the public as a Deputy Clerk Recorder/Sr. Recordable Document Examiner, plus I’ve worked in the Elections Department during each election cycle since becoming a county employee. I am the only candidate with the experience and know-how to ensure all the duties of the Clerk, Recorder, and Registrar of Voters will be carried out fully and correctly, not solely those of the Registrar of Voters. 

               More information can be found on my website. www.electTiffanyHuntNielsen.com 

Tiffany Hunt Nielsen

It seems the County Recorder is being overshadowed by one County Clerk function – Registrar of Voters.  The County Recorder is literally a vital office in our local government.  The County Recorder holds all real property records, starting from the mid-1800s along with all Vital Records (birth, death & marriages) in Humboldt. The County Recorder is responsible to record and index new documents related to property deeds, loans and many other types of transactions daily. These documents created our county. Subdivisions with recorded maps, deeds for commercial properties, leases, agreements and first-time home owner Deeds created our County, towns and cities. Holding these public records for the public to search and access is an extremely important function for our community. Every day these records are accessed and used for recording new documents. We vote once, maybe twice a year, but we walk into our home daily. Whether you rent or own, where you live is owned by someone. That property ownership is recoded in the County Recorder’s office.