Most of Shasta’s ballots have been counted. Early estimates were much higher than current numbers
Numbers reported to the state today show just over 64,000 ballots have been counted in Shasta with only about 1,500 remaining. Original ballot estimates reported to the state by Shasta’s recently-appointed election official last week were significantly higher than the near-final numbers.
Vote counting has continued this week at the Shasta election office on Market Street.
After hours of tabulation Wednesday and Thursday, election officials released new ballot totals to the state today that bring the number of ballots counted to more than 64,000. Results show county voters opposing Prop. 50, with almost 71% of voters against it, despite its success statewide. Redding’s Measure A is also failing with almost 65% of voters opposed.
County election offices are required to report an estimate of uncounted ballots to the state every time a new processed ballot total is released to the public. Numbers reported by Shasta yesterday were submitted to the state past the 5:15 p.m. deadline, leaving the public in the dark for a day on the number of remaining unprocessed ballots. But an update sent to the state by Shasta this afternoon indicates only a little over 1,500 ballots remain to be counted.
Shasta’s Registrar of Voters, Clint Curtis is running his first election. The total number of estimated ballots he’s reported to the state has changed significantly since last week when he told the state he believed he had about 76,000 total ballots, including those not yet counted. The reports on the county’s own site showed an even higher total estimated number of ballots, about 81,000.
On Wednesday a Shasta Scout reporter noted to Curtis that the higher numbers he reported last week, if close to accurate, would put voter turnout at about 69%. It’s a percentage that surprised even Curtis, the source of those estimated numbers.
“That doesn’t sound right,” he said. “Something must be wrong with the numbers there.”
Curtis added that his estimated report of unprocessed ballots was based on what staff told him, and that the number is just that: an estimate. Asked how how the county had estimated ballot numbers Curtis said staff had, essentially, eyeballed it.
“We’re just looking at the bags here … and we’re looking at the containers … and then how many the tub holds … I think it’s 450 and then trying to figure out where that one is and add them all together and make them go,” Curtis said,
Queried on how precise that method would be, Curtis responded, “I have no idea. I asked people that have done this before, based on their best guess. So they could be high. They could be low.”
“That’s why they call it an estimate,” he added, “because it’s not accurate.”
The Secretary of State’s office confirmed for Shasta Scout yesterday that there is no particular method mandated by law for estimating the number of uncounted ballots.
Former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut, who’s running against Curtis for the ROV position in 2026, responded to questions by saying when she was in charge of calculating unprocessed ballot estimates she would run reports from the computer system showing how many ballots had been signature verified versus how many had been tabulated so far.
“This would allow for a more accurate estimate,” Francescut said before noting that she did occasionally make visual estimates and would base those on the number of ballots known to fit in election office bins and mail trays. “I knew a full yellow bin was about 200 ballots,” Francescut said, and a full mail tray was about 350-400.”
In a press release released this week Curtis wrote that he had transformed public confidence in election processes. His approach to elections, he said, “centers on a simple principle: let the public see the process for themselves …. transparency isn’t just a buzzword. It’s about giving every citizen the ability to verify accuracy firsthand.”
Numbers submitted to the state today indicate that Curtis was off by somewhere between 11,000 and 16,000 ballots in comparison to the two sets of higher total ballot numbers he estimated last week. Asked how he would respond to members of the public who might be concerned that his estimates on ballots were off by that margin, Curtis said he’d tell them, “get your keister in here and help.”
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Mr. Curtis appears to have the kind of shaming and blaming management style the indicates lack of ability as he continually blames the staff for any/all stumbles he makes. Never his fault always their fault.
As the man in charge he should accept that the buck stops with him. He should know how to operate the new system he wants the staff to follow. They shouldn’t be telling him how to run his system. He is the guy that says he has all the answers. He can rig a voting machine. He can hand count 10s of thousands ballots in 8 hours without error. He can install cameras over every shoulder to make sure the vote is “right”. He will live stream votes into every home and maybe even leap tall buildings in a single bound. Crye’s crony buddy chosen in a rigged selection.
I suppose we can’t expect anything more from a rigged election claim supporter. A proponent of “if it ain’t broken – fix it, (so it is),” acolyte in the Crye performance government of, by and for the few. There is more to come from the “Miracle on Market Street” gang as the ballots grow more complicated and the trust we had in a perfectly good system fades with each bumble.
The only thing that truly matters is the final count, not the estimates. This is a new system and needs to get the kinks worked out like all new systems. Transparency is what really matters and that is what we are getting with Clint’s new system.
I don’t feel the same transparency you’re feeling. At all. In particular, I would have liked some sort of updates on the website explaining the times when there was no live feed. Instead, we got radio silence, left to wonder what was going on.
Of the blunders and incompetent actions we’ve seen reported, what else have we not seen?
An estimate that ridiculously far off does, in fact, matter. Clint is the creator of this system. He should be able to estimate what is in those tubs just a wee bit more accurately. He should have at least used some common sense based on the total number of registered voters to realize how far off he was – before someone had to point it out to him.
Clint’s lack of critical thinking skills and disregard for the need to pay attention to details is terrifying in light of the detail-oriented position he holds. Remember, this is the guy who presented multiple requests for money without providing budgets, or anything close to a detailed explanation for his numbers, to the public.
There is nothing transparent about what this man is doing other than the clear fact that he has no idea what he is doing.
100% agree, this new system will take time to get things right. Problem is the system that was in place before CC was gifted his new role as ROV had worked perfectly for decades. Usually when things go bad there’s always the saying, there’s no where to go but up from here. Somehow I don’t see that being the case here though with these bumbling idiots running the show.
Lol.
You people aren’t fooling anyone.
We know that you don’t truly want the will of the people to succeed, you want to be able to control the vote.
WOW- that guy is a jerk along with being incompetent. Why should we get in there and help? It is literally his paid job; he sought the position, he portrayed himself as being competent to do the job and greased all the election denier gears of the community to support him.
Cracks me up that he had employees use “how they did it before” to estimate remaining ballots. When confronted with lack of progress early in the process, he used former employees in a conspiracy to influence current employees. When does he start taking responsibility for HIS actions (or lack of actions in some cases)?
I.just.cant. …this guy is the mirror image of the idiot Crye. So foolish, he doesn’t even see how stupid he comes off with the remarks he makes. What a joke. Isn’t this the same guy who bragged that he’d have this all done in one day? This needs to be highlighted and underscored over and over. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Crye put this guy in and deserves the “credit” for another colossal blunder. Poor Shasta county. We are a laughing stock.