Supervisors approve expedited purchase of Blue Crest ballot scanner after transparency questions

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on June 9 approved a competitive-exemption purchase of a ballot-scanning and sorting system from Blue Crest Inc. for the county elections division, after supervisors raised concerns about skipping the usual competitive process.

Supervisor Nelson and others questioned why the county requested an exemption rather than running a full competitive procurement. “I want our taxpayers to know we have a transparent purchasing process,” Nelson said during discussion.

Cristina Valenzuela, whom she identified as the elections-division manager, told the board the county evaluated three vendors and that the Blue Crest machine integrates features sought by more than 75% of peer counties. “We did a search and Bluest is the best,” Valenzuela said. She and IT staff said compressed timelines tied to election readiness and system compatibility factored into the decision to seek an exemption.

Supervisor Caps and Supervisor Harman pressed staff on why staff had had months to process proposals yet still requested an exemption. Valenzuela and an IT representative answered that March 25th timing and high vendor demand created constraints that warranted the exemption. “We felt it was appropriate under the circumstances,” Valenzuela said.

After discussion and requests for improved future transparency, Supervisor Harman moved to approve the procurement exemption; the motion was seconded by Supervisor Lee and passed unanimously.

The board directed staff to document procurement steps and bring improvements to future purchases of election-critical equipment. The item was recorded as Administrative Item A20 and will proceed under the county’s contracting rules.