Santa Clara Co. Registrar's Office Was Missing Crossover Ballot Signs

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – At at least one polling place in Santa Clara County, voting was not without its hiccups.

KPIX 5 was at the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voter's Office on Election Day to report on how the office been getting the word out about "No Party Preference" voters. Such voters would not have had presidential candidates listed on their ballots.

To anticipate the possible confusion, the registrar's office had sent out 150,000 mailers, it had issued press releases, there was wording in the voter guides, and information blasted out on social media.

There are also supposed to be signs at the county's 804 polling places telling No Party Preference voters they could switch to Democratic, American Independent or Libertarian. One did not: the polling place at the Registrar of Voter's Office.

Once the discovery was made, the workers quickly put some signs up.

"I look at it as an opportunity to improve our training, to improve the information that we train our election officers on," Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey told KPIX 5. "I do understand we're all human, and things may get missed, But it does provide us with an opportunity to see where we can improve."

A No Party Preference Voter who wanted a ballot from the Republican, Peace and Freedom, or Green parties must be previously registered with one of those parties.

The registrar has also been getting some heat for not doing more to inform voters at the polls. Right now, a no party preference voter must ask a poll workers for a crossover ballot; they will not automatically offer one as you walk in the door.

Bushey said it's not required by law, and she is not budging on her decision to not automatically offer a crossover ballot to such voters. "I do not want to the election officers to get into partisan discussion with voters at the polls," she said.

Voter Carl Mannheimer found out about the crossover ballot on Facebook. He said the poll workers should be doing even more to tell voters about it.

"No. I think it should be the due course in information even at that point," he said.

The registrar's office said no other polling places reported not having the signs about the crossover ballot posted, and polling inspectors are being asked to check to see if the signs are up.