Riverside County Begins Search For Registrar Of Voters

More slow election returns proved to be the demise of Riverside County Registrar of Voters Barbara Dunmore.

She was fired Tuesday by County Chief Executive Bill Luna.

The county was last in the state to report results to the secretary of state following last weeks election, and some provisional ballots have yet to be counted.

Luna made the move after Dunmore failed to convince the board of supervisors that she should stay on the job. The slow returns from last weeks election were the last straw.

There was also a communication breakdown. Voters were left in the dark as to when further results would be available. This after the first returns of mail-in ballots weren’t posted until an hour after the polls closed at 8 p.m.

It also didn’t help that since Dunmore took office in 2004, her office had been under review three times following election night tabulation problems. Now the county is in charge of hiring a new registrar.

“We’ll be looking for two fields, one experienced registrars from other jurisdictions and also people with management experience,” said Supervisor Marion Ashley. “I think that’s one of the failings of the previous registrar is that where she is very smart and very hard working, probably could have been a better manager.”

Staff at the Registrar of Voters Office will proceed in tallying almost 29,000 provisional ballots. They figure to play a role in two local races: the council races in Coachella and Indian Wells are still too close to call.

The county needs to certify its election results by November 30th. An interim registrar will be named to conduct that process.