LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Tuesday afternoon, after emerging from a closed session, the Board of Supervisors announced that it has hired as the new registrar of voters a veteran county elections staffer who had left to work for Mendocino County earlier this year.
The board voted unanimously to hire Maria Valadez to fill the critical county role.
Valadez’s appointment as registrar of voters is effective April 1, following the March 2020 presidential primary election, the county reported.
In the meantime, the county reported that Valadez’s former boss, Diane Fridley – who retired as registrar last December – will continue to fill in on an interim basis.
The board hired Fridley to act a registrar temporarily following a closed session last week, as Lake County News has reported. Her interim appointment began Dec. 11.
“Over the past several weeks, we weighed a number of possibilities,” said Board Chair Tina Scott. “Once it became apparent Maria may be willing to return, she was clearly the best choice as long-term registrar of voters. Maria has demonstrated a willingness to rise to the considerable workload surrounding election cycles, and make sacrifices to ensure the work is done at a highly professional standard.”
After Fridley retired last year, Valadez – who worked for the county for nearly 30 years by that point – was appointed interim registrar but a permanent hire was put off for months because the board reportedly wanted to study how to fill the position on a long-term basis.
That was despite the fact that Valadez, who had worked with Fridley for decades and served as her deputy registrar, was expected to be Fridley’s successor.
Last fall, County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson had asked the board to consider changing the educational requirements for the registrar of voters in order to require a bachelor’s degree, rather than experience, and also had suggested it be wrapped into the Auditor-Controller/County Clerk’s Office.
Fridley had advised against those actions at the time and the board didn’t ultimately take them, but the situation didn’t become any easier for Valadez, who left in February to take a job in the Mendocino County elections office.
The departure of Valadez and the retirement of Fridley resulted in the Registrar of Voters Office losing nearly 70 years of experience, and it left no qualified staffers who could hold the top leadership roles.
After they left their official roles with the county, both Fridley and Valadez volunteered earlier this year to help the elections office during the Lakeport Fire Protection District’s fire tax election, at which time the county put to work its newly purchased voting equipment.
After Valadez left in February, the Board of Supervisors appointed Huchingson as interim registrar, and following two recruitments hired Catherine McMullen, who took over as registrar on June 24. She submitted her resignation on Nov. 7 and her last day was Dec. 2, following the certification of Northshore Fire’s Measure N fire tax.
In the weeks since, Huchingson had again proposed consolidating the Registrar of Voters Office with the Auditor-Controller/County Clerk’s Office, but the board directed that a recruitment take place for a new registrar and that the department remain a standalone.
That cleared the way for Valadez to return to head the county’s election office.
Despite her apparent previous opposition to Valadez, in a statement released by the county on Tuesday afternoon, Huchingson was quoted as saying of Valadez, “Certainly, no one could be more qualified to respond to the needs of Lake County’s eligible voters in the years to come.”
Huchingson said Valadez “has a unique understanding of the needs of Lake County’s diverse communities, and we are truly excited she has agreed to return to service with the County of Lake.”
“Lake County’s voters must have a high degree of confidence in local elections, and we are fortunate our existing staff is gaining experience and growing in their capacity,” Scott said. “Their efforts in the face of the many recent changes of leadership have been truly extraordinary. Adding a leader of Maria’s experience will accelerate their growth, and that is exciting for the future of elections in Lake County.”
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Valadez hired as Lake County’s registrar of voters
- Elizabeth Larson
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