100% Humboldt
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing Northcoast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!
100% Humboldt
#59. Juan Pablo Cervantes' Political Journey: From Woodland's Culinary Roots to Humboldt's Civic Engagement, Election Transparency, and Voting Innovations
What happens when you combine a passion for community engagement with a dash of fine dining experience? Juan Pablo Cervantes' journey from Woodland, California, to becoming the clerk recorder and registrar of voters is nothing short of inspiring. His story is a reminder that politics isn’t just for the career politicians; it’s for anyone with a drive to make a difference. Juan's unexpected path into the political world began with advocating for dining services at Woodland Community College, leading him to the board of trustees and highlighting how accessible government can be to the community it serves.
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in election offices, particularly in maintaining voter integrity and handling ballots? We pull back the curtain on the intricate operations that ensure our elections run smoothly year-round. From dispelling myths about voting system security to discussing the importance of early voter turnout, this episode is a deep dive into the electoral process. As we navigate concerns, we lighten the mood with a dose of humor, sharing personal stories that bring a human touch to the vital work of ensuring every vote is counted.
The spirit of Humboldt County shines brightly as we explore the intersection of personal interests and public service. From hiking trails and sushi spots to the ambitious dream of a "voting taco truck," there's a little something for everyone. We touch on the need for civic engagement, the role of local governance, and personal reflections on the impact of community involvement. Whether it's improving voter turnout or contemplating the region's future, this conversation encourages each listener to consider how their unique passions can contribute to societal change.
About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!
Find us on You Tube, Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok!
Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, my new best friend, juan Pablo Cervantes. Hi, juan, hi, how's it going? It's going good. Thanks for coming on the show, thanks for having me. 100% humble. Are you 100% humble? Were you born here? I wasn't. Tell us your Juan Pablo story.
Speaker 2:So, like you said, my name is Juan Pablo Cervantes. I'm the clerk recorder and registrar of voters for the county. The title's so long it's got punctuation in there. I like that, and I'm from a little town near Sacramento called Woodland, california. Sure, we grow a ton of tomatoes. Woodland's cool yeah.
Speaker 1:Is there an In-N-Out burger in Woodland, as you're going north?
Speaker 2:That's how we knew we made it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We got that In-N-Out and we got a Costco and a Dutch Bros. We've had Dutch Bros for a bit A long time. Yeah, we were early adopters with Dutch Bros. I think when I was in high school we got our first Dutch Bros and that was a while ago.
Speaker 1:So how was it growing up in Woodland, California?
Speaker 2:It was good, Small town but near big towns. You know we were only like an hour and 45 from San Francisco, 20 minute drive to Sacramento, so you got all the benefits of growing up in a small town with the perks of the big cities.
Speaker 1:You got an Ikea in West Sacramento, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't get to go to an Ikea until later in life. I'm the child of immigrants. You know folks that came up pretty poor, and so Ikea is a thing we think of as budget. But our version of budget was secondhand stores. Right, Ikea furniture isn't quite made up to snuff for secondhand stores.
Speaker 1:That's a great connection. It never quite makes a secondhand store no no. We have a couple of Ikea. They have these Poong chairs. We love them. They're really cool. So high school in Woodland, and then you graduated, went to college.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. I went off into the world, you know, explored things, ended up in fine dining for a bit, and then I realized that I that's a rough life, oh man, very hard on the body. And so I came back home, I signed up for community college and then I did that for a minute. It's kind of the entry into politics for me, community college.
Speaker 1:What's the JC over there?
Speaker 2:Woodland Community College Okay, part of the Yuba Community College District.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:So I was going to Yuba at the time as a non-traditional student, which is a fancy way of saying I had to have a full-time job while going to school. Okay, I didn't, yeah, and so I'd go to campus, and it'd be five or six when I went to campus, it'd be later in the day.
Speaker 2:Wow, around dinner time, in the course catalog it said that dining services would be provided when school was in session. And there wasn't any dining services. So I'd be, you know, I'd be in school for like three or four hours, power bar Driving on no food. It's kind of a food desert in that there's like no food nearby. Yeah, at Community College they tend to build them out in the boonies. And so I complained to a history professor at the time David Rubialis was his name, is his name and he said do something about it. You know, the board of trustees meets in such and such place every Wednesday. Wow, from this time to that time, you should go do. This thing called public comment. So I went, you know, I did my spiel, talked about how this was promised. There's no food here. Yeah, there's no food here, and I'm hungry right now. And you promised it and you're expecting us to learn and do well on classes while we're hungry. I'm not even wanting you to give me the food, I just want the opportunity to buy the food.
Speaker 1:That's an irresistible argument.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they treated me nicely. And then I was on my way and nothing changed. Threw you a peanut butter sandwich and said Not even Power bar, get out of here, right. And so I came back and I complained to the professor about it and he was like Get out of here, right.
Speaker 2:And so I came back and I complained to the professor about it and he was like well, that's an elected position you should, and they're up for election next year. You should run, wow. So I ran for the board of trustees for my community college and won, and won, yeah, and so to this day they have dining services when class is in session.
Speaker 1:I check every once in a while. You just thought I'd trust and verify.
Speaker 2:And so that was kind of the beginning. That's where I kind of started seeing government as a thing that's not separate from us. We're government, you're government.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And if you figure out how to use the right magic words and sign the right magic documents, you can make things happen in the real world.
Speaker 1:I like that, yeah, a lot. So in that interim time, going back so fine dining, did you travel the world? Did you go to Europe? What did you do?
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no. So I ended up. You know I worked my way up from like Denny's to El Tavar at the Grand Canyon. I don't know if you're familiar with that El. Tavar yeah, that's the big. Is it on the rim. Yeah, it's the big resort on the rim. That's fine dining, that'd be pretty fun, yeah. And so I ended up there. I was there for a bit and that's kind of where I made that discovery of wanting to do something different and something more, yeah.
Speaker 1:So would you just JC general ed so.
Speaker 2:JC with the idea that I was going to be a psychologist at some point. I don't know where I got the idea that I wanted to be a psychologist, but Aren't we all yeah right, I've been decent with people my whole life so I thought maybe that made sense, and so I finished that. I got an internship with the Forest Service because that was the only internship I could finagle at that time and that internship turned into a job, and so the gap between community college and the CSU was a big one.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Because I ended up working for the Forest Service doing GIS, so doing mapping and surveying and dealing with deeds and easements.
Speaker 1:Oh man, yeah, You're serving me at my favorite joke, are you ready? Oh, let's hear it. Did you ever hear the one about the cartographer that couldn't get a job because he had no sense of Yuma? Nice, yeah, that's a good one. People scratch their head. They go where's Yuma? What's a Yuma? Anyway, sorry, I like it, I like it. So then you went to university after that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I did that for a while and this was let me remember, I want to say this was 2011, 2012. It was right around, the state couldn't get a budget together, or no, not the state, it was the federal budget. Which time and you know the 2010s-ish time and the Forest Service had to do some layoffs and my boss was like, look, I could fight for your job if you want me to, but you've been doing the school thing and it sounds like maybe you should go back to it. I'll keep you around if you really want me to.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:That's kind of cool. And I was like, okay, I took that hint and so I ended up getting laid off. And then, and so I ended up getting laid off, and then I went to Cal Poly, humboldt, cal Poly, humboldt. I came up because it had a really good philosophy program and I was starting to get into that.
Speaker 1:Was Ellen Fletcher still there? Mm-mm, yeah, he was there when I was at Humboldt State University, humboldt State. Yeah, did you go to the Beach Boys last weekend? I?
Speaker 2:didn't no.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was killer. I don't have weekends.
Speaker 2:Oh, they were so good. Yeah, we're in the state of Wednesdays in election.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right.
Speaker 2:Every day is Wednesday.
Speaker 1:Every day is Wednesday Because it's the day after Tuesday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the day before Thursday.
Speaker 1:So it's all crazy. When does it get uncrazy after? Hopefully there's no recounts.
Speaker 2:Yeah It'll calm down, maybe the Sunday after Election Day and then it'll still keep going, but we probably won't have to work Sundays after that. We'll just be working Saturdays and the rest of the week there.
Speaker 1:That's hardcore. We're going to get into all that. By the way, good timing being here, because it's like what is today, 24th of October, yeah, so we're a week, two weeks out, yeah.
Speaker 2:We have two vote centers opening on Saturday Wow.
Speaker 1:Oh, early.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where are those? Arcata at the Arcata Community Center and Fortuna at Fortuna Vets.
Speaker 1:Fortuna Vets, oh cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So what did you study at Humboldt before we move forward into the world.
Speaker 2:I started philosophy, psychology, and I finished with just a philosophy degree and a minor in psychology. Wow yeah.
Speaker 1:I had intro to philosophy and just did so poorly as an 18-year-old, if you could believe it, I had really long hair down to my ankles.
Speaker 2:I can see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I was that guy in high school. Yeah, I was that. And then I got to Humboldt and I just wasn't a public speaker. It's hard to believe, but I just couldn't debate with the juniors and seniors and they talk about Socrates and Aristotle and it's like I don't have any idea what I'm talking about, as a.
Speaker 2:You know and this is a dig more at myself than anybody that's currently a philosophy major. But you want to talk to people that are pretentious in arguments? It's us undergraduate philosophy majors. Oh yeah, can come in hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pretentious, great word, yeah, anyway. So hey, it's voter season. Tell us what you do nuts and bolts prior to, and then we'll talk about election and kind of how that dynamic happens. But what's your job when it's I don't know, next March? What are you doing typically in terms of your day-to-day?
Speaker 2:So historically, there'd be no election next year. For the past three or four years, we've always had an election that we're working towards or finishing up, whether those are special elections like Garberville Fire Protection District doing an annexation last year, salmon Creek Fire turning into a fire protection district, or the gubernatorial recall election. We've just had elections nonstop here for a minute. Otherwise, it's gearing up for rec, you know, recalibrating and updating your processes, maintaining voter registration forms. People think of an election as only happening over like two or three months, but it, you know, it takes place way before that when we're managing our voter rolls. It's like a good party. Yeah, exactly, I'm the biggest party planner in the county. Yeah, got to get the bands lined up. Yeah, absolutely yeah, candidate services is a big part of the job too, and so prepping for that, what does that mean? So when you want to run for office, have you thought about running for office? I have never. Nope, oh, so maybe the future.
Speaker 1:you know, you'll come in my office and see for a chance. Fifth District Supervisor Scott Hammond. Watch out, steve Coming for you, madrone.
Speaker 2:That's a step for sure. Yeah, I know A lot of paperwork associated with it, and so the goal in my office right now is to figure out how to make that more accessible to folks. Our tagline is we'll be the bureaucrat, so you don't have to be.
Speaker 1:Nice, I like that. So on the offseason season you're setting up, pre-setting up the party, and so for this election, what, what, how is this one different? It's, um, it's a little different. I think out there, for some reason, I have the sense they're all pretty different.
Speaker 2:So, um, with the primary, we're having to deal with the party primary that was back in march, where, uh, every ballot has multiple versions of it because every party has their own component of the ballot. So it complicates things on that front. Depending on what your party is, you get a different version of it. During the general, it's a simpler process in terms of the creation of the ballot, but then you have additional races on there, like you've got your city council races, you've got your fire protection, district school boards, right.
Speaker 1:MCSD, whatever McKinleyville Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, another thing you could run for.
Speaker 1:I shouldn't say whatever, mckinleyville, we love McKinleyville. People go do you live in McKinleyville? No, I live on Dow's Prairie, whatever. No, I live on Dallas Prairie, whatever Still McElligleville. Okay, anyway, they do a great job, by the way. Mcsd oh yeah, absolutely Great guys.
Speaker 2:Huge, huge community service district Like. Their scope is incredible. They're pretty big right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. So what do you see coming up for this? Not for? Can you predict the election? What do you see in terms of the process? That's different for this one Is this we're seeing incredible early voter turnout. Oh, good Okay Just unprecedented.
Speaker 2:When I left my office this morning, we still had a lot of new ballots that we were starting to kind of intake and we were at about 12,000 ballots so far. Wow, you don't quite. Yeah right, we process, we do everything except the math so we can check signatures, we could start scanning ballots, we could do everything except for hitting that equal sign, which we're not able to do until after 8 pm on election night.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, so that's locked down to that point. So my ballot looks. I like my ballot this year. By the way, I wanted to compliment you. Thank you. Kind of simpler, easier to read. I didn't have to think deeply and I could just check boxes and do my thing, so that all goes to y'all and then you scan it, yeah that's correct.
Speaker 2:We scan it if it needs any kind of adjudication. Let's say you make a mistake on your vote by mail ballot and you mark two boxes One of them you wanted, the other one you didn't. You circle the one you want, put our necks across the one you didn't want. We'll adjudicate that. But there's that kind of processing If your signature doesn't match, we have to reach out to you and cure that as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do all that kind of stuff at this point. So bigger national questions stuff at this point. So bigger, bigger national questions. So all the um, the doubt about counting and and voting and, uh, all the all the press for the last what, probably 50 years, but at least for the last eight. What um is is our voting system pretty solid nationally.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, yeah, absolutely, I mean, and I think it's, that's an empirical question, right Like that isn't a subjective one.
Speaker 1:It's a philosophy major question.
Speaker 2:Well, no, no, I think that's just a statistician. That's a common sense question. If you look at the data, you could answer it yeah. If you look at where all the court cases landed, you know it's a pretty solid system.
Speaker 1:Jody said about 60 cases that were just dismissed, right, pretty solid system. Jody said about 60 cases that were just dismissed right yeah, that were challenged last time.
Speaker 2:It's incredible, yeah yeah, the big question we're getting asked right now is non-citizens voting oh okay.
Speaker 1:People are of the belief that a lot of non-citizens are voting, which is not the case. Yeah, so I'm still getting ballots for kids that have moved. So we have several children that are grown adults that are living in Medford. I should probably let you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'd be great. I'd appreciate that. It'd save me some money in sending them ballots that they don't need.
Speaker 1:I was going to insert some humor here, but it wouldn't be that funny. So yeah, just let you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it. When they re-register, that's one of the mechanisms. If you get mail that doesn't belong to, you, put you know does not live here anymore on it and stick it back in the mailbox.
Speaker 1:I could do that. That's pretty easily done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I hear stories like this nine times out of ten, that's kind of what's going on Makes sense. The other case is that they end up their kids re-register and use their residential address as their home address for vehicle registration reasons or this or that. Insurance reasons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know about that. That's weird. That's a good yeah.
Speaker 2:That happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so tell us about what you've accomplished in the office. You were elected. When and how much more time do you have?
Speaker 2:So I've got, I'm in a four-year term, I'm at a year and 10 months.
Speaker 1:Say the title again. It's kind of long.
Speaker 2:Clerk Recorder and Registrar of Voters Whoa, yeah, it's a very long title as two offices, physical offices. Who preceded you? Kelly Sanders, was the clerk recorder registrar before me and then Carolyn Cernich before She'd been there a while. Right, yeah, carolyn? Yeah, absolutely, I still call her. I still talk to her. That's cool, yeah.
Speaker 1:How long was she in the office? I don't know.
Speaker 2:About a while.
Speaker 1:Right, I don't know that off the top of my head, I think she was there, kind of legend-ish.
Speaker 2:Absolutely she. She was the clerk recorder prior to the offices being merged. Yeah, so there was a bit there where we had kind of like an elections manager, and then it got merged with the clerk recorder's office around her time.
Speaker 1:So what are some of your victories, some of your wins, some of the stuff that you've initiated and proud of since you've been there I think outreach is the biggest thing some of the stuff that you've initiated and proud of since you've been there.
Speaker 2:I think outreach is the biggest thing. I think we've always been a solid office when it comes to process. You know we have incredible security, we have great controls, we're diligent about all of that. We get the job done really well, but we haven't had a presence outside of our doors, you know, other than polling places, and so under my I think under me we've done way more outreach. Wherever we're meeting you, where you're at, whether that's at the county fair, sovereign Days and Hupa, we Out Day, just anywhere that there is outreach to be done, we're there.
Speaker 2:You're going to start seeing advertisements on Instagram and Facebook telling you to register and vote and where you can do that Marketing budget Way to go. All that kind of stuff is kind of my deal.
Speaker 1:Earned.
Speaker 2:Media is another thing that I've been pretty on about. This is Earned Media, and so this is where I get to talk to a bunch of people without paying you any advertising dollars.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen any money, folks, not a penny. Nick, have you seen any money? No, he's saying no.
Speaker 2:But that's the idea. The idea is that I'll do interviews with anybody that'll have me so I can talk about elections. The biggest gap we have in California isn't voter registration. Everyone talks about registering people to vote and that's the big goal that people have when it comes to elections. What's the gap? 10 percent, less than 10 percent. If you look at census data for citizens 18 and over in Humboldt County, our gap is about 10 percent.
Speaker 1:The gap.
Speaker 2:for what? For registering folks to vote. So about 10 percent of people that would be eligible to register are not eligible. Wow, 10 percent. That's a tiny gap, that's a difficult gap to overcome. That is very high hanging fruit and so. But when you look at voter turnout data, it's a very different picture. We had less than 50% of registered voters vote in the primary, so that's terrible.
Speaker 2:That's absolutely terrible and we're working on that by making it more accessible. We mail everyone that's registered to vote actively a ballot. You can go to any vote center across the county and vote for multiple days. And so the next, like the biggest issue, the biggest barrier for voters is not knowing, not knowing, and so whether it's the issues or how to vote or what the process is shows like yours, you know any. Any interview show that that that I'm able to do that starts bridging that gap.
Speaker 1:I like it. So you have to be a good communicator. That's the goal.
Speaker 2:An okay enough one.
Speaker 1:Okay enough. Steve Martin had a line some people have a way with words and others no, have way. No, have way. That's an old movie line from somewhere. Any awards or recognitions, that innovative approaches to voter registration? You just covered that. So getting people registered is one thing, getting them to turn out turns out is a whole other.
Speaker 2:That's the project we're undertaking, and so one of the ways, like I said, is just getting out in front of folks and getting people used to us so that they have a relationship with the office beyond just go register and vote. The other is when your neighbor runs for office, you suddenly become interested in what's going on. If you have a cousin, a nephew, a dad, somebody that's running, like all of a sudden it matters to you. And in our county we have over 90 special districts. These are special districts that keep things going in rural Humboldt. Everything from school districts, fire protection districts, water districts the basic, you know, elements of a civilization are run by these volunteers. That's a lot. It's tough to fill these boards too, very important boards, and so we're doing more outreach in terms of letting folks know what they do and how to get involved.
Speaker 1:Is that a school board too? Or that's yeah, all those boards, you count all those boards? Yeah, volunteer boards, water board.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, peninsula Community Service District. Okay, you know.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you get out there. You must meet a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the goal.
Speaker 1:What do you like about that part?
Speaker 2:That lot of people. Yeah, that's the, that's the goal. What do you like about that part? Um, that's an interesting question. I mean, I love talking about elections that's probably obvious at this point and so it's an opportunity to do so. Has it come up yet? Yeah, um, just the whole enfranchisement, enfranchisement process. It was such a big deal for me to have that door opened and to see how, how connected we are as as citizens to the government that works around us. It took that curtain down, and so that was huge for me, very empowering.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so to be able to to start somebody else down that path is rewarding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny Just you mentioning hey, what do you? What? You run for something I'm going. No, I could never do that, that's terrible. That's not terrible, I'm just. I don't feel like I'd be worthy or whatever that I could make a difference. And yet, yeah, it turns out and the possibility of running winning I mean, look at all the guys running for city council, eureka and elsewhere yeah, I love Kim.
Speaker 2:I think she's doing a great job. She ran unopposed. Yeah, the mayor of the biggest city in our county ran unopposed. That's just amazing to me.
Speaker 1:Go figure yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Scott Hammond for mayor is that. Is that happening? I guess in McKinleyville? You live in McKinleyville?
Speaker 1:That's going to be tough. We're not incorporated quite yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got a whole big step before you can run for mayor of McKinleyville.
Speaker 1:MCSD. Here we come. Yeah, there you go With my friend Scott Scott Bender. Yeah, oh they're. They're great guys, they're so cool, so let's talk you how.
Speaker 2:I stayed, please. You know there's so many of us Cal Poly folks that swing by and then peace out and gone, yeah. So I came to school. I met a girl.
Speaker 1:And this is home is the short answer. That was your girl at Dick Taylor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, my wife now. Yeah, okay, we should tell that story. Yeah, yeah, so go ahead with your story, that we'll talk about.
Speaker 2:Oh, they're connected. You know, uh, the life that I have with my wife is is the best part about Humboldt County, whether that's walking the McKay track, you know, doing some of the outdoor hiking. All of the community that's in Humboldt County Like it is, unlike any other place I've lived. Understand, you're a weightlifter, yeah. I, I, I've been known to pump the iron. I've been slack lately with the election going on.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:But I've been known to lift heavy things and set them down.
Speaker 1:Get back in the gym, man. What are you doing? I got to.
Speaker 2:I got to. Where's all the gains? You're right, they're gone. They're gone. Do I even lift?
Speaker 1:The gains are gone, yeah.
Speaker 2:I only know that because my son's a lif like Joni's, starting to lift a lot. Oh yeah, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta stay with it. She's getting some gains too. Hi hon, yeah. So how long have you guys been married? We got married a year and some change ago July 1st of, not not this, july 1st, the year before that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, You're supposed to know that right off the bat. By the way, just a little quicker next time. Time dilates during elections.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like the time warp.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that I like that. I heard a good term yesterday. It was we were in a home group and they said this guy had invasive energy. Invasive energy this person was just at me all the time with this invasive energy I go. That describes something Not necessarily related to any of this, but I thought there's a term that is really good. It's like the Mike.
Speaker 2:Tyson of talking.
Speaker 1:Right, just like in your head, so invasive. Yeah, so we met you guys at Dick Taylor. We were having what was it s'more night? S'more night, yeah, it was great, it was really good. It was really quite hubris, dick, you should have seen this. So you actually get to play with fire. Yeah, so describe it.
Speaker 2:Very hot fire. These were, I don't remember. Do you know what those things were called the marshmallows? No, the little like they're, these little vats of some kind of green.
Speaker 1:Are those sterno Sterno little cups?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, these sterno cups that created really, really hot flames Like this wasn't a candle in front of you. They get hot. I think all of us had some hair singed off of our arms. It's a little bit scary, yeah and so, but amazing chocolate, and then incredible like homemade marshmallows. Oh man, we had a table of four or five of us, six of us and the graham cracker was.
Speaker 1:You know, these guys don't do anything halfway, no no. It's like it was all gourmet, absolutely, really delicious, fine dining, great company, great company. That was fun to get to know you guys, and so it's funny because you'll attest to this because you have a longer beard than I, but I remember you like as soon as you get into the marshmallow. I mean, campfire is hard enough, yeah, and those are contained, but this is like really sugary, like good marshmallows.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:And it became like liquid goo. Here we go with, like green, whatever that stuff is that kids play with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. Yeah, I was very careful about that experience. I waited until I saw how everyone went about it. Yeah, by the time I toasted my marshmallows, cut them in half and you still made a mess. Oh yeah, we and my marshmallows. Cut them in half and you still made a mess.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we all did Part of the fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, delicious though, delicious those guys do a great job.
Speaker 1:Anyway, hi Dustin, hi Adam, so tell me more about what you like about Humboldt. So you liked meeting your wife?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we came up the community, so we came up. We both came up for school. She's from Anaheim, I'm from from Woodland. Like I said, she was studying environmental science and planning and I was studying philosophy. I went the student government route so I was doing a lot of student advocacy at the time. She was doing some advocacy around you know climate change and you know becoming more, more environmentally sound as a university, and so we met as kind of two folks trying to make the world a better place.
Speaker 1:Nice yeah, so it should be. So you're an AS Associated.
Speaker 2:Student, I was the AS president. Yes, you were.
Speaker 1:Yeah, unforgettable.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Was it a good year? Is it a one-year term?
Speaker 2:It's a one-year term. It's a very long year, though. It's a very long year, it's a lot of meetings, it's a lot of meetings, it's a ton of meetings. So in California, we have this thing called shared governance. When it comes to the CSU and the UC, that means that students take an active role in the administration of the university.
Speaker 1:Oh right.
Speaker 2:You have a seat at the table, just like the unions do an equal seat Tom Jackson, or with the other, the woman before. I'm trying to remember her name now, president.
Speaker 1:She lost the football team folks. She did, she did and KHSU and KHSU. But we still love her.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so it was under her. Yeah, it was a long year. So part of that shared governance means you have to get students to sign up for committees, because there's a lot of committees at a university.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was unwilling for our voice not to be heard. So I got a degree in philosophy, but an education in public administration. I bet. Because any committee that I didn't fill, I went to that committee meeting. Wow, yeah, wow, that's got to be a lot. It was. You should have seen my calendar. Were you married then? No, oh, no, no. Just got married a year and a half ago.
Speaker 1:That's right, yeah, and you're only like 29. Yeah, 30. Got it. So what do you do for fun when you're not doing your your day job?
Speaker 2:I like cooking. I'm a bit of a foodie. I read a lot. I'm a voracious reader. Video games I'm a fan of the video games.
Speaker 1:Really and then lifting. You're a gamer, yeah and a lifter.
Speaker 2:What are you reading now? Right now I'm reading the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. Fiction, yeah, science fiction, gotcha.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, during the election.
Speaker 2:I need something, a palate cleanser for a tough day. Oh yeah, go chill out and take a breath, yeah. Otherwise, I'm pretty into biographies, huh yeah. Ron Chenrow I think I've read all of his stuff, huh yeah.
Speaker 1:Who's he?
Speaker 2:You know the big Hamilton musical Mm-hmm, based off his book.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:He's done a lot of really good intense biographies book. He's done a lot of really good intense biographies I highly recommend. I think the last one of those I read was on the House of Morgan, JP Morgan yeah, the JP Morgan biography, which is pretty good. I bet that's rad. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, seeing the other side. Andrew Carnegie yeah, he was an interesting dude, oh all those people at the time, the new money of the time.
Speaker 1:He almost died. He was very close to death at 53. Oh, interesting, and made it to 98. 98. He had this painful condition and he got healed up and he made it and kept going and then gave a lot of it away. Yeah, we got one of the libraries here in eureka uh-huh, love that, it's amazing. Saw one in brian texas, it was really he's. He built like 2 000 of them. Yeah, they're all over the place. They're in little towns all over america.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're, and they're all really kind of cool architecture, yeah, and some are restored like ours yeah, all right, I so tell us a little bit more about I don't know what would you like to talk about. That's a good question. I've never actually asked that question. Yeah, what are you passionate about?
Speaker 2:Let's talk about food. What's the favorite meal you've ever had?
Speaker 1:Oh boy, I had a steak that was this thick with my friend David Lipman, who was the publisher of the Time Standard and he retired out of the North Coast Co-op. We went to Chicago for a conference and we ate a two-inch steak served by older gentlemen with it was an authentic Chicago steakhouse and it was probably the best cut of meat I've ever had. Everyone.
Speaker 2:I've ever asked that question to has always responded with food being about 15 to 20% of the answer and the people they were with being the other part.
Speaker 1:Good one, yeah, yeah. The other was yeah, probably anytime at Larapin, larapin's great. What do you order? Good question, I will. The filet's really good, the fish is. There's not a bad order on the menu, but the fish is really good. I like that. What do you order? I'm a brisket guy.
Speaker 2:You're a brisket guy, you got to get the brisket. It's good, yeah, or at least the half and half.
Speaker 1:I like sitting. Yeah, this half and half is the way to go, because you get a little variety and you get to sit outside. See Paul, free advertising. There you go. What do you call it when?
Speaker 2:you come on in Earned media, so it wouldn't be earned media for him. He's just lucky that we're shilling his spot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so generally, what do you see from where you sit? What are our issues and challenges currently and upcoming?
Speaker 2:What do you read? As you look at that horizon, I think there's like a disconnect that I'm seeing more and more, where folks feel alienated from the structures in their life. Basically, whether that's government is the one that I mostly interact with, people think that there's this big curtain. I regularly answer the phones in the office, I respond to just about any query directed at me and it just shocks people.
Speaker 1:What it's you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Go. I thought I was going to get a voicemail.
Speaker 1:Kim gives out her cell phone. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Are you going to give out your cell phone? I don't know, maybe not. I'll give out my county cell phone.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'm very popular when it comes to record requests, sure, so texting me, because those are all going to go into a record request at some point or another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Cool, but I think that's it. I think the disconnect. I think people are more and more disconnected from their civics classes, that civics is a thing that you're told from like an op perspective, from you know you should do this, this is your civic responsibility, and it's not talked about from the empowering perspective that this isn't just your responsibility but it's your right.
Speaker 1:And maybe it's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it absolutely is. Once you get into it, I mean it's like so I'm not a sports guy. My father-in-law is a huge football fan. Who's he like? I think he's a Bears guy. Oh, he likes the Bears. Yeah, he's from Illinois. So there you go. Yeah, but to hear him talk about football is probably what I imagine he feels like. When I talk about elections, it's like a bunch of dates and numbers and rules and you know changing of some rules and how like that's changed the game and you know the strategy shifts because of this and that. But to hear him talk about football, I'm like, oh, I get it. But just like football, as soon as you start getting familiar with how government works, it opens up this, it makes sense and you can kind of interface with it and engage with it better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I share the ambivalence you're talking about, and that is, let those guys do it, let them handle it, and then I'll complain really bitterly and I'll go on loco and really troll it up and say something really nasty, not that I would do that.
Speaker 2:What's your username? Huh?
Speaker 1:Do you have one of those like pseudonyms? No, I don't ever do that. I really judge those guys, though. Oh yeah, I really do hate you, in all due respect and love, but yeah, I feel like they're cowardly chickens who are, you know, shouldn't be able to do that, but that's loco. Anyway, hi Patrick.
Speaker 2:That's just what somebody would say if they had a pseudonym right.
Speaker 1:Very good, that's how what somebody would say if they had a pseudonym right. Very good, that's how you get the cover going. He's on me, Nick. He's on to me. What do I do? Hey, this is the great part of the show. The bell rings and it's time for the quiz.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Will you earn a Dick Taylor chocolate bar? Oh, from Brazil. That looks delicious. This is a good one, Dick Taylor chocolates, located somewhere over there on my map in Eureka. Question number one Juan Pablo Cervantes, you are given a whole day off to do whatever the heck you want to do with with your wife. What are you going?
Speaker 2:to do in Humboldt. If it's up to her, it's probably going to be some kind of home project. Okay, that's. There's going to be some gardening, some tools involved, something that I've been saying that I'll get around to doing If it's up to me. We're definitely eating out, we're probably going to go to the movies, fun, and then other than that, we're going to do as little as possible.
Speaker 1:Nice. What's your favorite movie?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a tough one. Yeah, it's a really difficult one, maybe a couple.
Speaker 1:A couple, are they sci-fi?
Speaker 2:No, I mean, they're a pretty broad range. Yeah, I'm trying to think of what first comes to mind. I've been really into like older Japanese movies Really. So there's this guy named Matsumoto yeah, he's a famous swordsman and so he's got a. He's got a series, uh that uh it's like a three-part uh movie series about him that I saw on hbo, and so that one's that one's on my mind. Um love the classics. The godfather, you know, regularly quotes the godfather the strategy of mario puza is like yeah yeah, you could apply it to day-to-day life was there three godfather movies there was two.
Speaker 2:I don't know about this third movie. I thought wonder if they made a third. And there's, there's this, some something attributed to sofia coppola, but we don't talk about that one well, that doesn't count yeah it's hard to get the trifecta in hollywood.
Speaker 1:I mean I I always thought, you know, lord of the rings, maybe, um, the matrix didn't quite do three good ones I mean, you have, like the lord of the rings, did it really well.
Speaker 2:You had, uh, back to the future, did an amazing trifecta they're pretty good, three yeah batman, you know it was pretty good. Three.
Speaker 1:Three Batman, same Batman with.
Speaker 2:Bruce Wayne yeah, with Bruce Wayne in it.
Speaker 1:Bruce Wayne was in Batman. He's amazing.
Speaker 2:What are some other good trilogies? Star Wars? Star Wars had three.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. I think there's another one. Anyway, get started on that. So free day, you're going to the movies, Going to the movies.
Speaker 2:Honey deuce, eating some food and then not doing much, reading a bunch.
Speaker 1:Second question yeah, number two, should you choose to answer this question. So where do you guys go out? If you could go out anywhere, hey, here's 200 bucks. Just go knock yourself out. What do you have? And where are you eating?
Speaker 2:So hey, here's 200 bucks. Just go knock yourself out. What are you having? What are you eating? So it used to be Tavern. I like Tavern a lot, but that sadly went away in Eureka. That's gone, right? Yeah, it's gone.
Speaker 1:What was.
Speaker 2:Where was that? That was over at the old Eagle House Inn.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, in Old Town, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And so now Is it Fats Alongside Fattie Clans, I think by the same owners, but the restaurant, the more restaurant-y version of that, went away. I think Salt, probably in Arcata. Oh no, no, I got this. Oh wait, sushi Spot. Oh really, sushi Spot. Yeah, sushi Spot. Easy, eric's going to love that. Yeah, love Sushi Spot. Which one I like? The one by my office. One by my office they may or may not know my name by this point, so the one in Eureka.
Speaker 1:Has the outdoor seating? Yeah, but I like sitting at the bar, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I always sit at the bar. But, yeah, sushi Spot easily. I've probably been there this election cycle 10, 15 times and it's good for you. Yeah, it feels good for you. I don't know if it is, but it feels good. Yeah, no, it sits well. I mean, you can metabolize and be hungry by dinner. Yeah, I think I'm single-handedly responsible for my wife's aversion to sushi. Really At the moment, just because I kept wanting to go back. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think there was a couple weeks there where we went three or four times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he's got three restaurants.
Speaker 2:I think so. I've been to the McKinleyville one and I've been to the Eureka one, but I didn't know about the Arcata one. Eric's a cool guy.
Speaker 1:Okay, good owners, they're solid, all right. Question three so you have to do something outdoor. Where do you go outside to play in Humboldt?
Speaker 2:Okay, that's a good question. Um, let's see, I think the McKay track, I think, is our first go. We have a, we have a dog, we're dog people, and so the McKay track is just such a great place to to walk your dog.
Speaker 1:How far is it? Is it the trail goes away? It depends.
Speaker 2:It's as far as you want it to be, because it does go away you can it winds up in Redding? Yeah, it feels that Red Bluff. Yeah, you end up out in Cutton. I think at certain parts of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it cuts back into Cutton right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, yeah, either that or the Elk River Trail is another one that we really like oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:When you say that, do you mean the one up to the tall trees?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Past the bridge, the old growth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, past the bridge. That's a cool trail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a nice all-day thing. You really definitely earn that sushi after that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a sushi earner. Yeah, we did six miles up by Redwood Creek on Saturday and it was like I felt really good. You know, first of all I did it. Second of all, I was hungry. Okay, I felt like, hey, I can get out of control now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a from the exercise. Oh, it's great, be in nature, be that tree air.
Speaker 1:My wife is so proud of me. Oh honey, you're so amazing yeah. Wait a minute. You could do 10 and 15 miles. I did six. Look at me go Right, wow, okay. Another question Cup of coffee? Where do you go? I don't drink coffee.
Speaker 2:Cup of something, think yeah, I don't drink coffee. Um, our, our office goes jitterbean a lot, though I buy a lot of coffee for my staff nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you drink tea or cocoa?
Speaker 2:diet soda beers I'm a diet.
Speaker 1:Oh, put that poison in your body. I'm a diet coke guy. Yeah, coke, yeah, yeah, that's got a lot of good stuff in it, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can tell by the color diet coke breakfast of champions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, jody's father would come up from la and he should always yeah, you can tell by the color Diet Coke, breakfast of champions. Yeah, jody's father would come up from LA and she'd always get him a six pack of Coke, because the guy would just, and then he'd get on me. He goes what are you doing drinking that Starbucks? Are you putting that stuff in your body? I go come on, tom, can you get Mr Coke? Those LA guys, I don't know Anyway. So what do you envision for Humboldt County going forward? With regard to the county at large, what kind of a future would you like to see as that relates to the office? Is there a future, I don't know? New gizmo software Is there something cool that we're going to get for? So my dream.
Speaker 2:Give us your dream. This is my goal. I was hoping to get it done in four years. I might need to ask folks to vote for me again so that I get four more years to do it. When is that election? Two years, yeah, 2026.
Speaker 1:You get the year off next year. You can just play. Yeah Right, you can watch movies all day.
Speaker 2:Read biographies, right, yeah. But the dream is a clerk recorder registrar vehicle Like I want. I want like a voting taco truck.
Speaker 1:Oh, that'd be cool Like a wrapped big old thing.
Speaker 2:A big old like RV, like thing that I could deploy as a vote center and you know you can go there and get copies of your birth certificate, death certificate.
Speaker 1:Is there such thing?
Speaker 2:in the universe there is. There is Just finding the funding for it. That's my goal for now. What does that cost? I don't know. So I've seen a couple of different versions of it. I've seen some that cost a couple hundred grand that I think we can make happen relatively easily, and then I've seen some that are upwards of half a mil, almost a mil, and that's like full on. The dream is that for the 2028 presidential election cycle, one of my vote centers starts kind of like a procession around the entire county. So, locations that haven't had a polling place in a while, get one for a day. Edersberg, yeah. Shelter Cove, yeah. That haven't had a polling place in a while, get one for a day. Edersberg, shelter Cove, yeah.
Speaker 1:Weott Oreck, just Orleans, like the whole gamut Because there's so much remote stuff. Yeah, have you had a chance to go to all those communities?
Speaker 2:I have. Yeah, yeah, I've made it a point to Good for you. Yeah, I've made it throughout. The entirety of the county Bloxburg was my last thing on my list and I was able to make it out this summer. How have you found? The people in those places, oh, incredibly hospitable. Every space that I've encountered in Humboldt County I've been amazed. The trick is to get invited. The trick is, especially in some of our more rural parts is making sure you go where folks are gathering, not necessarily where they live there's a lot of doors out there.
Speaker 2:You don't want to be knocking on because they don't want you knocking on them. Yeah, it's just humble, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It would be unwise yeah.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I'm from a rural town and so I get that you don't live outside of a city because you want to be pestered.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, come and solicit my door.
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically it's a long driveway. One of the things I did after college was as a philosophy major. You know, you have so many job prospects, and so I had to pick one of the many job prospects I had, which was the postal service. I was a mail carrier oh, really, A rural mail carrier.
Speaker 1:Where was that?
Speaker 2:In Woodland. Okay yeah, and so I went back home for a bit. I was there for about a year, a year and some change, wow yeah, I got to firsthand experience how some folks really don't want government vehicles.
Speaker 1:Anywhere Driving around. Yeah, they say that's true, especially east of Laytonville. They called it the Black Triangle or something it had a name it's like. No law outlaw wild, wild west.
Speaker 2:I wonder how much that's changed with cannabis legalization. Hard to say, because that was our whole deal. Right, we were just so far away and so remote that it made growing easier, but now that you can grow it off, i-5.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Good point. Yeah, I see it a lot in Oregon too, where we have kids. So let's talk about cannabis for a minute. Does that relate to voting in any way?
Speaker 2:Well, we had a cannabis ordinance last election cycle that failed. It did fail, right, yeah, but other than that, there's not much intersection, other than I mean, the biggest intersection is one that you're going to hear from any other county department head is our tax dollars decreasing sharply and having to deal with the budget deficit.
Speaker 1:On account of cannabis.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean you see it track, though. Right, it's a piece of it, right, yeah, if you look at the data, the amount of cannabis tax dollars that we received perfectly fits the hole in the budget.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. Yeah, so we could attribute it mostly to that.
Speaker 2:It's hard to attribute it mostly to anything.
Speaker 1:I mean the state as a whole is facing a potential recession. We know that that industry cratered a lot, though right in the last five years. Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:And we see it in other sales tax issues. So even if we didn't tax the black market stuff, those dollars got spent in the community.
Speaker 1:I really haven't asked anybody. In your opinion as a private citizen, juan, what do you think is the reason that marijuana is created here or elsewhere in the state as a citizen, a very uninformed citizen, a very ignorant citizen when it comes to those market forces.
Speaker 2:It's a supply and demand thing, right? You know, it used to be something that was hard to grow in public, and so you had to do it somewhere hidden away like Humboldt County, and now it's something you can grow just about anywhere in the state, and so you'd end up in a situation where Everybody's got weed, so you'd end up in a situation where Everybody's got weed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not just that, but the market forces are such that you'd want to increase profit so you can grow as much weed as possible with the smallest dollar amount associated with it. Right, right, yeah, you industrialize cannabis is kind of what ended up happening.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I see that a lot. I saw a dispensary go out and there's a new one going right in the same spot downtown Eureka.
Speaker 2:And the other part is it's regulated. It's regulated as if it was still this high earning, you know black market thing, but it's sold as a commodity Right, and so yeah, interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the market forces, and I don't know if it created that much more demand when it was legal. Yeah, I can't imagine. Oh, I don't know. I have a 20-year-old that likes to smoke it now, so there's some demand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it didn't before it was legalized. Of course not, right.
Speaker 1:Never Very upstanding. When it's naughty, you always avoid it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Every time. So wrapping up here, any parting shots? Anything you'd like to talk about that we missed.
Speaker 2:No, no, I really appreciate what you do. Like I said, getting connected. Having that disconnect from folks and the world they live around in their community is kind of, I think, our greatest malaise as a yeah, as a society, and the work you're doing is is trying to mend that, so I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go home and get behind the tv and just veg out and forget about people. Disassociate, yeah, disassociate. So let's really quick. What? What could we do to do that different? Maybe run, run for office or join a committee?
Speaker 2:or absolutely, if you're on a board, if you think things should be done differently, don't just uh, don't just go on complain, but start showing up to meetings. And I know it's tough, I, I absolutely know it's tough, you know making rent and putting food on the table and then adding something on top of that, but it makes a difference. It makes a huge difference. If, uh, one thing I heard in listening to your previous guests, it's just how much change a person can make by just participating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they can be changed and they can make change. Yeah, and it used to be, we'd all go to church three times a week. Now you can go to meetings there. You go. The other meetings, most of them, you can even do from home. You're on to something. That is what am I passionate about. If I really like the medical community, I can get on a board at Providence and just do. Or if I want to get involved with the water board or kids or high school or football, it's like there's a lot of opportunities.
Speaker 2:Yeah even beyond the county stuff. You know, there's a state insurance board.
Speaker 1:Ah, hadn't thought about that one. Yeah yeah, that's a whole other ball of wax. It's really interesting, I bet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're dealing with some tough issues.
Speaker 1:Oh, insurance is on fire bro.
Speaker 2:That's what I hear.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think they're going to figure it out, but it's going to be a little bit. Have you had Jana Volokovic?
Speaker 1:on your show yet? No, but she's come up a couple times. What does she?
Speaker 2:do? She runs our UC Ag Extension. Yeah, you're the second person in a week. She is very, very knowledgeable, particularly. I mean about a lot of things, but particularly about the current state of fire and insurance. Somebody said she's a pretty brilliant person, absolutely One of the smartest people I've ever met.
Speaker 1:We'll get that off the air. Maybe you can introduce me, yeah absolutely yeah. I appreciate that. So, hey, your legacy, let's talk about. What's it going to say on your tombstone. What would you like it to say? What are we going to say at your celebration of life?
Speaker 2:Oh, you don't think technology.
Speaker 1:Like you. Just you don't think with technology I could just live forever. Yeah, no, you know Well, spiritually I tend to believe. But barring you, living forever in this earth suit, what do you think you'd like us to say?
Speaker 2:I love how you phrased that. This earth suit, I think that's how. I'm going to start calling it.
Speaker 1:It's my earth suit. Take it off one day.
Speaker 2:You know this isn't a satisfying answer and my wife has asked me this before I've given her the same unsatisfying answers. I don't care.
Speaker 1:You don't care. Yeah, it's not my deal At that time. You probably won't want to be gone.
Speaker 2:You know I'm going to do what I can while I'm here and then, after I'm here, that's on whoever couldn't figure out the technology to keep me going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the cryogenic tank, yeah, yeah, the gen set broke down that day. Yeah, when are we getting uploaded.
Speaker 1:He thought out I think you're the second person in a couple of weeks to go. You know, I really don't care. I think legacy is overrated and I don't care, but I want to be present today and give it 100% and maybe that'll take care of itself. Absolutely, I like that. Love it Well. Hey man, thank you for coming, appreciate you being here. Thanks for having me. I hope the election goes well and you don't burn out too much. Get some rest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, our goal is to not be in the news.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the goal is to not be just don't show up.
Speaker 2:No, the goal is to not be just don't show up, no, no, we want people to know what's going on, but nothing too interesting.
Speaker 1:Does it become arduous if there's a runoff or if it's something super close?
Speaker 2:No, no, we just process things along, we go, we keep checks and balances and audits and if we need to do more work, that's what we get paid for.
Speaker 1:It might just be some weeks after to recount or to gather up every single vote.
Speaker 2:And here's something I did want to touch on really briefly.
Speaker 1:Go for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have time. The Humboldt Transparency Project Do you know anything about them? I've heard of it. Oh, you should have them on the show for sure. They're doing something that no one else in the country I think is doing. What is that? So in Humboldt County, you know I do all my processing that I can probably speak for 45 minutes on by itself. The Humboldt Transparency Project is this nonprofit separate from me that scans every ballot after I've scanned it and then essentially and they hate it when I use this Carolyn, who is on that board now, is going to have some bad things to say about me. They basically do an audit without an audit. They basically check my results and because of them we've had contests in our county that have been won by one vote and the candidates go. If Carolyn counted it, we're good. We trust the transparency project.
Speaker 1:Wow, 100%, yeah, wow, that's cool. Are they independent? Are they state they're independent? So they're just not proper.
Speaker 2:These volunteers got together in 2014-ish, I think, huh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so they'll count everything you count.
Speaker 2:Everything I count. We have a chain of custody with the ballots. We have oversight when they do their scanning. They check them out, check them back in and then they compare and contrast.
Speaker 1:Nice Humboldt.
Speaker 2:Transparency. No other county is doing it and nothing that we've heard about in the country is approaching this.
Speaker 1:So when you lay your numbers against theirs, has there been any disparity?
Speaker 2:There was one time where they were responsible them and Humboldt County were responsible for decertifying an election system because they found an error that discounted about 200 ballots, yeah, and so they caught it and they ran it up the flagpole and got them in trouble.
Speaker 1:Wow, did they have to do a runoff or do something different? They just reprocessed those ballots.
Speaker 2:Oh, I see, okay, yeah, that's the nice thing about paper ballots.
Speaker 1:Well, it's good to catch it then. Yeah, yeah, that's the nice thing about paper ballots. Well, it's good to catch it then. Yeah, yeah, I like that yeah.
Speaker 2:In Humboldt County. I hope that, in being as transparent as we are, that we're given the grace to fix our mistakes if we're caught, because I want to be in a space where my mistakes do get caught and so having that transparency with them makes that possible.
Speaker 1:And being okay with having that done. That's the job, right.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nothing wrong with that. No ego, that's right. No ego, amigo. Hey. So how do we get a hold of you Emails, Facebook? How do we best get a hold of y'all we're?
Speaker 2:on social media. I'm co-elections on both Facebook and Instagram. We're not on TikTok yet. I don't really do dances all that.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, that's a requirement you got to dance on TikTok too. Yeah, it's just why am I looking over at Nick? For no other reason. Third, fourth wall.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to see the Scott Hammond TikTok in action. Other than that, you can reach us at humbledgovorg slash elections.
Speaker 1:You'll see yourself on TikTok not dancing. You'll see yourself talking. No, thank you so much for being here and yeah, let's take those two phone numbers offline and do that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Appreciate it. Thanks for being here. Yeah, thank you. All right, Thank you. Oh wait, before we go, I forgot one thing. Am I still on? Here we go. Thanks everybody for listening and watching. 100% Humble subscribe on all the usual Apple Spotify. There's like a dozen of these, there's a whole lot of them, and then you know, if you wanted to repost or share or subscribe, you could do that, and you too. Oh, I forgot to do this. Juan Pablo Cervantes, on behalf of a grateful community, one Dick Taylor, Brazil chocolate bar for you. Sir, Thank you so much. All right, Thanks for being 100% humbled. Have a great day.
