"The state gave us a deadline, we meet the deadline," an exasperated Valadez said from her small office in Lakeport as a handful of staffers sat at computers verifying signatures more than two weeks after election day, when they had tallied fewer than half of the votes. "I just don't understand, why do we need to rush?" The rural Northern California county is often the slowest of all, frustrating candidates and political pundits.
"Elections are a lot of security, transparency and accountability. That's what we do here. And it has been like this for all of the years I've worked here," said Valadez, who was hired in 1995 and trained by the prior registrar, hired in 1977. "We have a lot of checks and balances. We do them as we go." Valadez maintains that the meticulous process is vital for integrity.
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