Art Tinoco ascends to registrar of voters

After more than 20 years with the Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office, Art Tinoco is now the registrar.

“I’m a public servant at heart,” he said with pride. “My commitment lies in fostering processes founded on integrity and accuracy, ensuring every step from inception to completion aligns with these core values.”

He was born in Riverside, lived with his grandparents in Mexico for several years, returned to Riverside and moved to Idaho with his parents. He spent his youth in Idaho. Living in a small town of less than 5,000, he worked part-time during high school.

“I witnessed the resilience of hard work firsthand as my family toiled in the orange groves until opportunities dwindled, leading us to Idaho,” he said in an email. “Growing up, I navigated through school while juggling two jobs until college beckoned.”

He was offered a full-time job with the state after high school graduation, but family and friends encouraged him to pursue college. In 2001, he graduated from the College of Idaho, with three majors — business administration, international affairs and Spanish.

He proudly noted that several Idaho governors are alumni as well as a few Miss Idahos.

“In 2001, I came back home to Riverside,” Tinoco said in a telephone interview. Returning to his childhood roots in Riverside, his first job offer was a part-time position with the Registrar’s Office.

“I accepted and my first assignment was stuffing pencils into ballots,” he said with a laugh. “With only 400,000 voters, then, we did everything manually.”

One difference now that the voter rolls are over 1.3 million is the number of election officers needed to conduct an election. Previously, with many polling places, about 1,200 sites, the registrar needed a small army of about 3,500. Now the elections are by mail and voting centers. The number of election officers has fallen to about 1,200 to staff about 148 voting centers. Riverside County has not had any difficulty finding people willing to assume this role for a day, Tinoco mentioned.

“The hardest part is it’s now a system with a lot of moving parts,” he said and then listed, “The voter registration rolls, the voter districts, the ballot drop offs, and constituent service. Managing all of these different parts and meeting multiple — state and local — deadlines.”

Now that more moving parts are part of the job, Tinoco recognizes that as registrar he requires public trust. That will be his number one goal.

“The steps needed include control of misinformation and improved outreach to the public,” he promised. “We’re looking at how to better deliver to the community. And that means transparency.”

After 21 years, Tinoco has been involved in many elections, but he still remains passionate about his opportunity to serve the public. His intention is to “Give the public what they want most — transparency and fairness,” he affirmed.