By John Horgan

San Mateo County Times

Santa Clara County's well-publicized problems with its elections system, manifested glaringly last week for all to see and critique, do not inspire much confidence in the polling setup there.

According to media accounts, it appears to be unfortunate light years behind its far more advanced neighbor to the north, San Mateo County, where election results are uniformly timely, accurate and lacking in controversy.

Fortunately for Santa Clara, there is a sterling resource available nearby for consultation and advice. It can be found in the person of Warren Slocum.

He is the savvy fellow who is primarily responsible for San Mateo's seamless and exemplary elections setup; he is currently a member of its board of supervisors.

He was elected to that seat two years ago after directing the local Elections Office. So, give this guy a call; it can't hurt.