Shasta Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis promised to increase transparency, improve security and eliminate the ideological faultlines that have divided the county’s electorate. Here’s what he’s done so far.
Shasta’s top election official has instructed poll workers to encourage the use of provisional ballots to alleviate delays caused by his elimination of electronic poll pads. Votes cast provisionally won’t be counted on Election Day.
The California Secretary of State’s Office said that it had requested the correction to address an error. Election official Clint Curtis insists no error was made but says he’s complying with the state’s request anyway.
Shasta election official Clint Curtis has made claims that donors from San Francisco are “pouring tons of money” into his opponent’s campaign. Records show that donations from San Francisco donors make up less than half of a percentage point of Francescut’s donation total.
There are two candidates running for Shasta County’s clerk and registrar of voters. Election official Joanna Francescut says she’s running for her children, and to ensure the community knows the truth about elections and has knowledgeable staff running them.
A brief press conference held yesterday by election official Clint Curtis was beset by chaotic interruptions from his opponents. Three election staff members spoke in his support, saying they’ve experienced him as a positive leader, despite substantiated findings that he engaged in abuse. One also campaigned on Curtis’ behalf.
The report includes accounts of interviews with witnesses after an early-April incident that involved a threat to have a staffer pulled out of their office by their hair. The report substantiated that account and other threats of violence, along with verbal abuse and retaliation. Curtis has denied the findings and will hold a press conference Thursday.
The majority of donations made to the two candidates running for county clerk and registrar of voters in Shasta this June have gone to Joanna Francescut, a former long-term election staffer.
Staff from Shasta County’s personnel and administrative departments will be on site at both the Market and Court Street election offices beginning Monday, May 11. They’re being deployed to mediate conflict and facilitate communication in the wake of findings of abusive conduct by appointed Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis.
Yesterday, Shasta’s head of personnel reminded the county’s thousands of employees of the commitment to a safe working environment after findings of abusive conduct by election official Clint Curtis. Today, supervisors voted in closed session to represent and indemnify election staff if they’re named in a lawsuit by Curtis.
