Editorial: Credit, appreciation warranted for retiring Marin registrar of voters

The announced retirement of Marin County’s registrar of voters Lynda Roberts is a milestone for the county’s elections office and its well-deserved reputation for public service.

When Roberts took over the department’s top job in 2014, she probably knew she would face the challenge of replacing the county’s dated elections system. But she likely didn’t expect elections offices to be the targets of political derision and distrust stirred by Donald Trump and his supporters.

Roberts likely didn’t expect the state-ordered move to even-year elections and the push to convert municipal and school boards to district elections – both of which increased the department’s workload and added a level of geographical complications to local elections.

And Roberts didn’t know we were going to endure a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic that required mail-in voting (making it the prevailing norm for a large majority of Marin’s voters).

Not only that, the elections office’s 12 full-time employees had to get their jobs done in 2020 amid “social distancing” requirements with polling places that had to be equipped with protective measures, masks, gloves, sanitizer and distancing requirements.

It wasn’t easy and they were operating in unchartered waters, complying with rigorous public health standards never before contemplated. They kept our democracy running.

These were big challenges, but Roberts and her veteran staff responded with professionalism and a commitment to facilitate fair and open elections.

The department has a long reputation for being one of the most responsive, open and public-friendly offices in the Civic Center. Under Roberts’ leadership, that reputation continued.

That professional and civic-minded approach starts at the top. Marin has been lucky it remained a top priority for Roberts and one she expected of her staff.

There are some departments and public bodies in our county where that same ethic of responsive public service is lacking.

Year after year, the county has welcomed observers of the vote count. Year after year, counts have been double checked for accuracy and passed. And final counts have met the state’s deadlines.

Roberts joined Marin from her job as head of the elections office in Mono County, where there were fewer than 6,000 voters. In Marin, she was in charge of elections services for more than 170,000 voters, whose impressive turnout frequently leads the state.

She inherited a top-notch staff and led the department through the flurry of changes and challenges and continued its well-respected reputation.

As our nation’s political climate of polarization has deepened, Marin’s elections office has kept its focus on public service, not political partisanship. It has been run above the fray, focusing on abiding by state, federal and local election laws and making sure the public can trust the voting process and the count.

That’s what Marin voters rightfully expect and, even amid those changes and challenges, Roberts and her crew delivered.