A conservative California county is trying to kill mail-in voting | California
Northern California’s Shasta County, known for its radical conservative politics and a burgeoning election skeptic movement, appears headed for a new conflict with the state over a newly approved ballot measure that would transform local elections.
In last Tuesday’s election, a majority of voters in the rural county supported Measure B, which would have held elections in person on a single day and limited who could vote absentee — effectively ending mail-in voting — while also requiring photo identification and hand counting.
According to local and state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the League of Women Voters, the proposed changes outlined in the measure would make it harder for residents to vote (about 85% of residents vote by mail) and also appear to violate California law.
“Measure B also clearly violates state law and subjects county taxpayers to significant litigation costs, all while seeking a solution to a non-existent problem,” the organization said in a statement.
“We must protect the voting options of eligible voters, not erect unnecessary barriers that would infringe on our right to vote in Shasta County.”
California’s attorney general’s office, meanwhile, said it was “closely monitoring the Measure B results and stands ready to take appropriate action, if necessary, to protect voters’ rights and enforce state election laws.”
Shasta County, home to about 182,000 people in the far north of the state, has been at war over the future of elections and how they should be conducted since the 2020 presidential election.
A small but vocal group of activists who believe in widespread voter fraud have turned their focus to the local election office, claiming local elections are rigged and unsafe to vote. Some election officials repeated and supported these accusations despite winning the elections.
In 2022, the former voter registrar told a U.S. Senate committee that activists weaponized election observation activities and that she and her staff were subjected to interference and bullying. Many staff left the office. Last year, the office was overseen by election skeptic Clint Curtis, who was new to the election and claimed his predecessors had previously committed fraud. He supported Measure B.
Shasta’s governing body cut ties in 2023 with Dominion Voting Systems, the voting machine company at the center of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about election fraud. The effort has received support from prominent election deniers like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The board of supervisors moved to enact a hand-counting system that experts warned would be costly and far less accurate, but the state ultimately blocked that plan by passing a law banning hand-counting in most cases.
But Measure B appears to be reviving some of that effort. This comes amid a wave of new conspiracy theories about voting in California that have grown since last week’s election. The results of some of the most watched races, including the governor and Los Angeles mayoral contests, were unknown until this week, thanks to California’s notoriously meticulous but slow ballot processing time and the large numbers of voters who continued to cast their ballots until election day.
Donald Trump accused the state of rigging the election without any evidence. Spencer Pratt, who did not participate in the runoff election for Los Angeles mayor, claimed that one of these rivals had gathered a group of homeless people to vote for him.
Meanwhile, the U.S. justice department sent a federal prosecutor to monitor voting proceedings in Los Angeles, and Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney appointed by Trump for California’s central district, announced that his office and the FBI’s Los Angeles office were “undergoing multiple election fraud investigations.”
In Shasta County, Measure B is on track to pass with more than 55% of the vote. The overwhelming majority of certifying voters (88%) voted in person by mail. The measure conflicts with numerous state election laws, including ones that prevent local governments from creating and enforcing laws requiring voters to show identification to vote.
The passage of the measure is a victory for activists who have been campaigning to change Shasta’s election for more than half a decade, but it comes amid other losses. Curtis, the voter registrar, was removed from office by the voters; He was replaced by Joanna Francescut, who had 17 years of experience in the office before Curtis fired her after taking office. His tenure was marked by difficulties, including: allegations He said he created a hostile work environment and made violent threats against workers. Curtis has publicly denied these allegations.
The California secretary of state and Shasta County registrar of voters offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
