How the city of Fullerton navigated adding candidates to ballots remotely

This time last year, we were all looking forward to 2020: the start of a new decade and big elections (federally and locally) were just a few of the things we were excited about as we closed out the year. Little did we know, the beginning of the end of “normal” would happen two month later — a global pandemic changed the way we go about our day-to-day lives — and forever alter how we run our local government in Fullerton, Calif. However, the unique situation accelerated many of these inevitable, positive changes.

At the beginning, it was difficult to anticipate how long the pandemic would last in the U.S. Unfortunately, it became clear fairly quickly that this “new normal” — working remotely and having to provide services to our citizens accordingly — was here to stay. Here in Fullerton, we had to quickly pivot operations in order to ensure uninterrupted day-to-day processes but also put a plan in place to navigate the upcoming local election. Prior to the onset of COVID-19, local city council candidates in Fullerton filed in-person using manual forms. However, all of this changed in June when California Gov. Gavin Newsom granted temporary approval of remote candidate processing.

Moving election processes digital

Fullerton begins its election preparation in March, but the pandemic and rule changes around eligibility delayed our planning through June. However, once the state gave the green light to proceed with an electronic candidate process, it was full steam ahead.

To read the complete article, visit American City & County.