Shasta elections official Clint Curtis throws out big name: Tina Peters
Curtis said he hopes to hire the former elections official from Colorado, who’s served time for felony election crimes. Peters is considering the offer, her attorney said.
Headlines exploded yesterday across the region and nation after Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis announced on a radio show that he hoped to hire former Colorado elections official Tina Peters.
The name drop drew an instantaneous reaction from large media outlets including the New York Times, which amplified Curtis’ interest in Peters, who was convicted for interfering in the 2020 election.
President Donald Trump has long supported Peters and even issued her a symbolic pardon after her sentencing in 2024. She was released earlier this summer, after Trump pressured the governor of Colorado to shorten her sentence.
Curtis said Peters would be a good choice for the role because “she can take the rocks and arrows.”
On Sunday’s episode of local Shasta radio show “Jefferson State of Mine,” Curtis briefly mentioned hopes to speak with Trump about California elections, something he thinks may gain a sympathetic ear with the president, who’s already launched a federal probe in Los Angeles County.
Curtis hopes to hire Peters to fill the role of Assistant Registrar of Voters Brent Turner, who the elections official announced would be leaving his role next month. Reached for comment by phone today, Turner contradicted that claim, saying he had no plans to step down.
“I believe I’m the assistant registrar. And if anything changes I will certainly let you know,” Turner said.
He added that he had only heard about Curtis’ interest in working with Tina Peters from the media, saying, “It’s certainly a plot twist that was unanticipated.”
Separately, Shasta County spokesperson Miranda Angel shared information that backed Turner’s claim, noting “there is no formal proposal or application to replace the current Assistant Registrar of Voters.” She added that “any prospective employee or consultant would go through the same hiring process as anyone else seeking employment with the County.”
Curtis has not said directly whether he’s made any offer to Peters, or if she’s accepted, instead simply mentioning that he talked with her last week. But her attorney, Peter Ticktin, confirmed today that she’s considering the role.
“Tina Peters is giving consideration to helping in the efforts in Shasta County as there most definitely has been monkey business in the way the election was handled,” Ticktin said in a statement sent by his publicist. He called Peters “one of the key voices leading the effort to get the invasive machines out of our election process.”
Curtis’ announcement about Peters is just the latest headline to have brought national attention to Shasta County’s elections under his supervision.
Shasta’s ROV, who ran his second election in June, recently claimed that there were a number of ballots cast that didn’t “look or feel right” and “didn’t smell right, either.” He cited a number of similar allegations from individuals working in the election office. The majority of those testimonials came from individuals who donated to Curtis’ unsuccessful campaign to maintain his seat as ROV in the June primary.
Many of those same individuals have also helped push forward Measure B, a ballot initiative approved by Shasta County voters that mandates the implementation of voter ID requirements and other major changes to local election procedure — all of which are illegal in the state of California. The measure has already prompted a lawsuit from the California Attorney General and has been temporarily suspended by a Shasta judge, pending a longer legal battle.
During vote counting in June, the elections official made no mention of suspect ballots, and he certified the election as usual last month. But last week Curtis told the media his concerns about June ballot irregularity had prompted him to lock ballots in an upstairs room at the elections office for potential inspection by the FBI. According to Curtis, FBI agents were in Shasta last week, something the agency has not confirmed. So far, Curtis has said, agents haven’t inspected ballots.
Curtis was also censured just one week ago by the same Shasta County board that hired him last year. Just after the public meeting in which he was censured, Curtis responded by alleging at least one of his staff had committed election crimes, earning him a new rebuke from County CEO David Rickert who emphasized that employees had not been investigated for such actions and should not be deprived of due process rights.
Asked if his claims about suspect ballots and employee conduct indicate that he didn’t run the secure election he promised when he was hired last year, Curtis said it’s impossible to do so without a change in the law. He mentioned his interest in seeing Trump’s Save America Act passed to ensure the use of voter ID and in-person voting, both of which are currently illegal in California.
“The president wants to actually fix this issue,” Curtis told the hosts of the radio show.
“And this would be the issue that we say [to him], this is how mail-in ballots are,” he went on. “They could come in fake. They could come in forged, and there’s nothing the ROV, and the systems they have, are going to be able to do about it. So you got to get rid of that system. You got to have an ID, and you got to have in-person voting, and that eliminates the whole problem.”
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Lovely. Just simply lovely.
Jesus… Vote in numerous POS’s then sit back while they appoint other POS’s…
Do as much damage as possible — hoping those you hate or dislike are punished…
Had enough yet? Knowing this county, probably not…
Folks, we need to take a breath and relax. All that’s happening here is Curtis’ clownish maneuvering to get onto the national stage and become the new pillow salesman extraordinaire.
Shasta County, we have been used by political (and judicial) losers by the likes of Hobbs, Crye, Curtis, P. Jones, and Mr. Pillow, backed by The Water Users, Shasta Five, Peter Ticken, Moms For Liberty, neo-confederate secessionist short-term Congressman James Gallagher, etc., to put us on the map as the “Tip of the Spear” for Trumpian social, economic, electoral, and political ambitions.
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This latest move by rejected Curtis, attempting to hire Tina Peters, a 4-count convicted election felon and 3-count misdemeanor criminal, is the sound of a fish flopping around on the dock before he leaves us. $50 says Peters will never make it to Shasta County.
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Yes, they have severely divided us as a community, hurt us economically by the millions, and brought us into national and even international news, hoping that fascist authoritarian Trump and his minions will appreciate them. And I dare say most Republicans and many SCRCC members are hoping (or literally praying) that the SAVE ACT somehow passes Congress and saves them, that Trump prevails in Trump v. California, or that Trump simply declares a national-security emergency and takes control of the November 2026 midterms.
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And I don’t expect one Shasta County Republican politician or one member of the SCRCC to express a word of remorse for endorsing Crye, Curtis, or Trump, a court-adjudicated rapist (34-count felon), or to acknowledge how Trumpian thinking, beliefs, and actions have severely injured Shasta County. Or would I expect any of them to accept an offer to debate this harm in public? Not one of them.
First bit of misinformation is “we need to get the invasive machines out of our voting process”. We use paper ballots, not voting machines. Only exception is infrequently used ADA compliant voting machines for disabled. It prints a paper ballot once voter has finished voting. We use tabulators to read all the paper ballots then use hand counting of random sample to verify machine accuracy.
This is bad news, again, for Shasta County. People will change their minds about moving here and some who live here will leave. Local MAGA will celebrate that while local businesses struggle and professionals like doctors leave or refuse to come here. This is the kind of publicity the Redding Chamber of Commerce likely considers cringeworthy.
What a shame that Shasta County got so much positive press/attention for the Ironmen and Curtis wipes it out in one short interview. Nationally, we become again the laugh-stock of the country.
Exactly. Folks in Olympia sent me the Guardian story link. Discouraging that Shasta County keeps pushing out so much bad publicity. The Guardian had a comment from France a few years ago.
You know how to identify the French army? They have sunburned armpits. Send that up to Olympia.
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Shasta County is not the laughing stock of anywhere because people everywhere have their own embarrassing drama to worry about.
Found one of the people who doesn’t have the good sense to be embarrassed about what is going on locally.
This is what comes of allowing children to drive the school bus … Had about enough Shasta County?
The controversy is enormous in the short term, but the practical long-term consequences may be much smaller than the headlines suggest.
The real thing to watch is the exact terms of any hiring or consulting agreement Curtis enters into before leaving office. That determines whether this is merely a few months of political theater—or something that could actually constrain Francescut after January.
So much uproar for nothing.
Given the Record Searchlight is reporting that this is not in the budget, her hire as a consultant would be contingent on getting a Board majority to approve her contract. I would also hope Curtis would have to justify to the Board why he wants to hire someone who would fail a background check and not a more qualified candidate and why he would not do a competitive process. I think Crye and Harmon would probably support the hire, but if Kelstrom wants to win his runoff I hope he will be smart enough to vote No. I think we can be confident Long and Plummer will vote no.
He just has no concept that he doesn’t have a mandate from Shasta County voters. I’ll say it again. He was never elected. He had his position gifted to him by a Supervisor who was trounced in June, another who barely made it to a runoff, and an incompetent Supervisor. He was originally championed by yet another Supervisor who was trounced in the 2024 election. It’s time to accept that the majority of voters don’t want him here and resign.
Tina Peters is on probation until 2029 and can’t leave Colorado until then. Curtis would have to hire her as a remote private contractor—I’ve read elsewhere that a Shasta County statute bars the hiring of felons as employees. Working remotely has a precedent—reportedly, current Assistant ROV Brent Turner rarely works in the ROV’s office (if he works at all), preferring to stay home in SF.
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One of my favorite parts of the article is Turner finding out through the press that his ass is grass—Curtis announcing that Turner plans on stepping down next month. Curtis has the same kind of loyalty displayed by Orange Mussolini.
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Peters’ position wouldn’t be an elected position and thus wouldn’t have the protected status that Curtis enjoys. The BOS could terminate her in an instant if she somehow were hired as an employee or refuse to approve a contract for her to work as a consultant.
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Curtis is either as dumb and delusional as the rest of the local MAGA groundlings, or he knows this is a doomed and this is just another wild-ass stunt to slake his attention-whore thirst.
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The BOS can’t fire Curtis, but they can get a workplace restraining order, confiscate his County-provided electronic devices, and change the locks on the doors to the ROV’s office. DO IT!
Get serious people Curtis is doing his damnedest to solicit some favor with our pumpkin head and pumpkin brained president, it’s the only job opportunity he hasn’t dynamited by his own blundering.
Is he grousing for an invite to Mar-a-Lardo?
Perhaps a job in Trump’s DOJ…
Why can’t the BOS fire him? They appointed him; he was never elected. Is there something in the county charter, that separates the ROV office from any kind of reprimand? They just censured this walking poster child for UV Ray Skin Damage, last week! No one is immune from being fired; I just don’t understand why they can’t do something. They approve the budgets for all departments; maybe this department needs even more mentoring and oversight.
It is already on national news feeds that Shasta County is hiring or has hired this woman. Time for someone to file a lawsuit demanding Curtis resign. Where do I sign?
But wait…I thought he wanted to hire Joanna??
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Lmao, you can’t make this stuff up! 😂
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I wonder if any of the local election deniers have the good sense to be even slightly embarrassed at this stuff. (Nah…I doubt it)
Jolly: While we cut this detail from the final story to reduce reader fatigue, former Assistant Registrar Joanna Francescut, who’s slated to take Curtis seat in January, confirmed for us today that Curtis never had a conversation with her about the role he told Shasta Scout he hoped to offer her. Learn more here: https://shastascout.org/shasta-elections-official-curtis-says-he-hopes-to-hire-former-opponent-and-rov-elect-francescut-as-assistant-rov/
Just when it seems it can’t get any dumber. Clown Curtis has obviously decided to go out in a blaze of glory and do as much damage as possible in the meantime. It’s particularly priceless that his MiniMe had no idea he was losing his assistant job. The BOS have to take whatever legal remedies may be available, including making a formal request to SOS Weber to oversee November’s election.
Selah