16-07-2025
Kern County extends Dominion Voting System contract for 2 years
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a contract extension for the controversial Dominion Voting System.
Election Integrity advocates have had complaints and mistrust of Dominion systems since the 2020 election. But the contract expired, and with a bill going through legislature right now to separate the Registrar of Voters from the Auditor-Controller's office a decision had to be made.
Applause and thank you's filled the supervisors chambers Tuesday, approving a two year contract extension for the Dominion voting Systems. A stark contrast from when the contract was renewed three years ago, when the board chambers erupted into chaos.
The elections office, election integrity advocates, and Supervisors David Couch and Leticia Perez are all on a committee to talk about voter related issues, this decision came out of that committee.
In January, the board decided to split the Auditor-Controller with the Registrar of Voters, due to community concerns that it was too much work for just one person.
'As the auditor our job is to help those departments in safeguarding taxpayer money and I do take that part of my job very seriously,' said Aimee Espinoza, Kern's Auditor-Controller-Clerk and Registrar of Voters.
The bill has to go through the state assembly, which hasn't acted yet. Then a new Registrar of Voters can be appointed by the board.
The over $580,000 dollar contract extension lasts until December 31st 2027, which would cover the elections next year. Reasoning for extending the contract is to let the new Registrar of Voters decide whether to keep the Dominion system or change to a different one.
'The new ROV coming in maybe a year or year and a half that they have all the opportunities to correct the ship if you will,' said Charles Shinn of the Concerned Citizens Group.
There are currently three voting systems approved by the Secretary of State, Dominion, Heart, and ESNS.
'The majority of counties use dominion and the majority of the top 15 largest counties use dominion,' said Espinoza.
At the end of the contract, the appointed ROV would start a contract process and start to look at the different approved systems. While election integrity advocates are happy about the news, they still say that there issues currently lie at the secretary of state, because the voting system options are limited.
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