Who’s running to be California’s Secretary of State. Meet Robert Bernosky and Shirley Weber
Robert Bernosky
Party: Republican
Age: 59
Birthplace: Wilmington, Delaware
Residence: Hollister
Occupation: Chief financial officer
Education: University of Delaware, business major
Offices held: Board member, North County Joint Union School District; secretary, Pacheco Pass Water District; board member and president, Hollister School District; board member and president, San Benito County Committee on School District Organization
Website: VoteBernosky.com
What are your top priorities for the position?
My top priorities are to help California work for those who live here. California can be a tremendous place to live with its weather, mountains, forests, desert and sea. But we do not have enough water and energy available to us on a consistent basis — we are always in crisis; manufacturing continues to leave the state because of it.
Criminals are no longer behind bars, homeownership is not in sight for too many, we are the worst in education, and we have the highest poverty rates. So many people have left because of these issues, that we lost a congressional seat. I believe that most people want California to work for them, and the way I want that to happen is to get more people to vote — to convince them that their vote does matter, that it will be counted as they intended, and only eligible voters have voted.
If they want to be able to own a home someday, have enough water for their lawn, enough electricity and natural gas for their home, feel safe in their communities, have schools providing meaningful education, and for government to stop chasing good-paying jobs out of the state, they can vote for candidates with policies that create all those things, and I will help them to do it. Businesses need to be able to easily conduct business here and feel secure that entities are properly registered and maintained in the Secretary of State’s office.
How do you plan to address election worker safety and trust in the election process?
I will emphasize to the people that most everything that we experience in living and doing business in California begins with public policy put in place by elected officials. I will ensure that the secretary of state’s office will manage the databases that determine voter eligibility and work with the 58 county election officials to ensure ballots are counted with uniformity and that only the ballots of eligible voters are counted.
If there are not already laws in place to protect election workers and their privacy, I will lobby the Legislature and governor to put laws in place that guarantee the safety of election workers. I believe that treating election workers as we protect teachers would be a good place to start. We (the public) know election workers’ names, but not their personnel information. County election officials obtain and secure the information necessary to know who the election workers are and their eligibility to be election workers. Individuals who disrupt the election process are subject to prosecution, just like disrupting the learning environment at a school is.
Shirley Weber
Party: Democratic
Age: 73
Birthplace: Hope, Arkansas
Residence: San Diego
Occupation: California Secretary of State, appointed in 2021
Education: Bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and Ph.D. from UCLA
Offices held: San Diego Board of Education, 1988-1996; assemblywoman, 2013-2021; Secretary of State, since 2021
Website: DrShirleyWeber.com
What are your top priorities for the position?
First, we have to run safe, fair elections. Everyone deserves the right to vote, and the confidence that our elections are managed securely and professionally. I’m proud of our work on this front — California’s elections are a model for the nation. Secondly, we need to make voting more accessible, increasing the percentage of Californians who are registered, and the percentage of registered voters who turn out each election. In just the first year and a half of my term, we have made vote-by-mail permanent, implemented Prop. 17 and expanded the franchise to formerly incarcerated Californians on parole, and increased the number of Voter’s Choice Act counties so they now represent over half the state
How do you plan to address election worker safety and trust in the election process?
We have current efforts underway to provide as much correct information about how, when and where to vote as possible about the elections to voters. We troubleshoot mis-, dis- and mal-information trends to correct the record when necessary. We’ve also made efforts to demystify the elections, from voting machines to certification of results. Those will continue and will be expanded moving forward. I also support legislation to keep the home addresses of election workers confidential to reduce the increasing volume of threats, harassment, and abuse that we’ve seen since November 2020.