SHINGLE SPRINGS, Calif. — El Dorado County voters will have a new official overseeing the county’s elections beginning next month.
The Board of Supervisors approved the appointment of Rena Russell as El Dorado County Registrar of Voters on Sept. 22. Russell will formally assume the position Oct. 31, according to the county’s Human Resources Department.
Russell currently serves as the county’s assistant registrar of voters, a position that has placed her directly in the administration of local elections, voter services and election operations.
County officials said Russell was selected following an open and competitive recruitment. The Human Resources Department cited her experience in election administration, workforce leadership, public communication and compliance with state and federal election requirements.
The appointment also provides continuity for an Elections Department already preparing for another major election cycle.
From assistant registrar to department head
Russell has been part of the El Dorado County Elections Department for several years and has been publicly identified as assistant registrar in county election documents and advisory committee records.
Her responsibilities have included work connected to election administration and voter services. County records show Russell serving as assistant registrar during the 2025 election cycle and continuing in that role throughout 2026.
In April, Russell was identified as the Elections Department contact for a Board of Supervisors action consolidating local jurisdiction elections with the June 2 statewide primary election.
More recently, Russell was listed as the department contact for county action involving a proposed November 2026 ballot initiative concerning emergency preparedness, health care access and wildfire prevention.
Those responsibilities have given Russell a front-row position in the county’s election machinery before taking the department’s top job.
A critical assignment ahead
The timing of the appointment is significant.
The Nov. 3, 2026, General Election is less than two weeks after Russell assumes the registrar’s position. The county Elections Department is already conducting preparations for the election, including logic and accuracy testing of voting equipment.
According to the county, testing began Sept. 10 at the Elections Department at 3883 Ponderosa Road in Shingle Springs. The county’s election website also lists candidate information, measures, vote-center locations and other resources for the November election.
The department currently reports 137,303 active voters in El Dorado County, based on registration data updated Sept. 4. Republicans account for approximately 42% of active voters, Democrats approximately 29% and voters registered with no party preference approximately 19%.
For Russell, the transition therefore will not occur during an election off-season. She will take command as the department moves into the final stretch of a statewide general election.
What the registrar does
The Registrar of Voters is responsible for much more than counting ballots after polls close.
The county says the Elections Department conducts federal, state, county, city, school and special district elections. It also handles voter registration, candidate filings, campaign-related filings, election petitions, polling places, voting systems, ballot design and voter information guides.
The registrar also serves as the election official for local jurisdictions throughout the county.
That makes the position central to elections ranging from countywide contests to races and measures involving individual school, fire, water and other special districts.
The county’s stated values for the Registrar of Voters include integrity, responsibility, accuracy, efficiency, respect and ethical conduct.
Those standards will be particularly relevant in a county that stretches from the Sacramento Valley through the Sierra foothills to South Lake Tahoe.
Leadership transition
Russell succeeds Linda Webster, who has served as El Dorado County’s Registrar of Voters.
Webster’s county biography describes a long career with El Dorado County government. She joined the county in 1989, later transferred to the Recorder’s Office and moved to the Elections Department in 2005, where she worked with the county’s voting system before becoming assistant registrar and ultimately registrar.
The county’s current Elections Department structure reflects that institutional experience, with Russell having worked alongside Webster as assistant registrar.
The Board’s appointment is intended to maintain that continuity rather than create a leadership gap. County staff specifically noted that failing to approve Russell’s appointment for Oct. 31 would have required the county to consider an interim appointment while conducting another selection process.
Preparing for November
For El Dorado County voters, the most immediate issue is straightforward: the election operation continues.
The county’s 2026 Election Administration Plan calls for vote centers to provide in-person voting, accessible voting equipment, ballot replacement and voter-registration services. Vote centers also allow eligible residents to conditionally register and cast provisional ballots through Election Day.
The Elections Department operates from its Shingle Springs headquarters and provides services to voters across the county, including residents in El Dorado Hills, Placerville, Pollock Pines and South Lake Tahoe.
Russell will officially take the reins Oct. 31.
Four days later, El Dorado County voters will go to the polls — or return ballots by mail or at designated drop boxes — for the Nov. 3 General Election.
For the county’s newest Registrar of Voters, there will be little time for a honeymoon.
The ballots will be waiting.
Sources: El Dorado County Board of Supervisors agenda and Human Resources appointment documents; El Dorado County Elections Department; El Dorado County election administration records.
