Clerk-Recorder’s office points out “misinformation” in Boardman’s reporting

Editor’s note: I am out of town, but I noticed a post on The Union columnist George Boardman’s blog “County election office comes stumbling out of the gate again” that had a big hole: No comment from the Clerk-Recorder’s office. So I took 30 seconds to email their Office for comment. (The response is below).

Let’s hope George meets with the Office and corrects the misinformation on his blog — as George did with an erroneous post about me earlier in the week.

Exit question: Why didn’t Boardman contact the Clerk-Recorder’s office for comment? He didn’t seek comment me either — even to confirm basic facts that were wrong. That’s Journalism 101. I’ve noticed these holes on his blog but also in his column in The Union:

Jeff,

After reading Mr. Boardman’s blog, I called Mr. Boardman to invite him to my office to discuss his blog entry. I left a message as no one answered the phone. I hope he comes in to discuss with me.

As for the article: My official announcement came in the form of a Notice of Election which was published in the Union on 1/19/19. I received the official announcement from the Governor and the Special Election Calendar from the Secretary of State the morning of January 16th, 2019. The Notice of Election was sent to the Union the morning of January 18th. I have attached the Notice of Election for your reference. [It is here: notice of special election]

We noticed the Union got dates wrong, so our office called the Union asking them to correct the dates. It is interesting Mr. Boardman is critical of our office when the Union makes a mistake.

Mr. Boardman talks about ballots in 2016 being sent to vote-by-mail voters were missing a page. Our staff remembers getting a complaint from one person that they were missing page two. We gave them page two. Since only one person complained, we feel perhaps the voter misplaced their original page two. We received one complaint from an elderly voter.

Mr. Boardman claims in 2016, ballots were late getting verified. We do not know what he means. In 2014, I found a printing error and we made the correction in a timely manner. The printers’ inkjet nozzle malfunctioned leaving spots on our ballots. I even asked Tom O’Toole to come to the office to view the ballots, and Tom concurred with our evaluation of the problem. I spoke to Tom today, and he can verify my statements are true.

In 2010, some registrars were counting undervotes as votes cast. This was based upon a federal ruling. This issue is still unsettled to this day.

I hope Mr. Boardman comes to speak with me and my staff. I copied Sandy Sjoberg and Abby Kelly as they have been around since 2007 when I was appointed. If you have any questions or require additional information, please let me know. Also, Sandy and Abby, if you have anything to add, please do so.

We have a great elections’ office and Mr. Boardman’s blog entry is at best misinformed. Thank You. Greg.

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for 12 years, and he was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News for eight years, among other positions. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing, swimming, and trout fishing in the Sierra. View all posts by jeffpelline