Chris,

This is the case we are relying upon (see below) to obtain the information (voter registration database) and MUCH below the stated charge of $375.

We are hoping that County Counsel will not drag their feet in this regard.  They know there has to be a clear nexus between the charge and the allowable costs, and the county may not “profit” by the amount they charge the public for public information.  And since it will be in electronic format (CD), there can be no “per page” charge as if they were making photocopies.

Prohibitive charges make public access to public information available only to those with significant sums, and disenfranchise the economically disadvantaged.

You may wish to inquire about this if you interview Ms. Dunmore.

Tom

I sent the message below to Barbara. A possible reason to do buy registration data is that resulting analysis may isolate particular precincts that need to be investigated with a public records request for all documents filled out by poll workers at that precinct. Thus it may reduce the paper we need to request in a follow up PRR. If we do a document request for all records relating to the entire election the amount of paper and data involved might make the PRR very costly and burden the ROV with providing records for precincts where their where no problems.

Dear Ms Dunmore:

On June 19, I sent you the letter below. Could you please tell me if you have had any response from County Counsel ?

The statement of vote for the June 6 primary will be released either today or in the next couple of days. I need to know how much I will need to pay for a complete set of voter registration data.

June 19, 2006

Registrar of Voters

2724 Gateway Drive

Riverside , CA 92507

Attention:        Barbara Dunmore

Dear Ms.Dunmore:

I am writing to you in regards to the cost to the public of a complete set of Voter Registration Data for the June 6, 2006, election. I appreciate your timely attention to this matter as I wish to buy data on the day the primary is certified. I am told this maybe possible as early as Friday, June 23.

I have included below a portion of the public records policy as it is shown on the Riverside County Website:

http://www.election.co.riverside.ca.us/docs/PRAPolicy.pdf

A. Fees for Copies of Public Records

There is a charge for the direct cost of duplication. Paper copies are $0.50 for the

first page of each record and $0.10 for each page thereafter. An invoice will

accompany your records when completed. When records are requested in electronic

format, the requestor shall bear the cost of producing a copy of the record, including

the cost to construct the record and the cost of programming and computer services

necessary to produce a copy of the record (Gov. Code Sec. 6253.9)

Fees for programming and computer services will be based on the cost of the staff

performing the work. The level of staff needed to fulfill the request for electronic

information could vary depending on the intricacies and complexity of the request.

For significant efforts, the requestor may be required to pay a portion or all of these

costs in advance of commencing the work. The fees may be waived or reduced at the

discretion of the Board of Supervisors.

This morning I talked to Trish Lounsbury of your staff. She described the labor and time required to produce a CD with a complete set of voter registration data, including the entire county with all history and flags. She said she would run a script. This script would extract the current information. It would take approximately twenty minuets. While she was waiting for the script to run she would do other work. At some point she would return and copy the data to a CD. Again, this would take twenty minuets or less. While waiting she would do other work. Thus,  the direct labor cost would be less than forty minuets of her salary, plus the cost of the CD. I estimate the cost would be between $5 and $10 dollars. After this has been done, she would save a copy so that future requests could be made with a simple CD copy operation.  In January of this year, the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee discussed at an Executive Board meeting the matter of Riverside County making a special charge for ‘History of Voting Method’ when providing voter registration data. The Central Committee Executive Board voted unanimously to protest any such charges.

I am including below a recent court case ruling on this subject:

 cost_of_records