Elimination of electronic poll books led to wait times, voter access issues in Shasta
Poll workers seeking to verify voters reported hotline wait times that caused some community members to leave before casting their ballots.
A Shasta Scout reporter who voted in person on Election Day was just one of a number of individuals who faced wait times to cast their ballot in the Nov. 4 special election. Reports of wait times from poll workers and other community members started on the morning of Election Day and continued to trickle in over the past week.
The issue was caused by the elimination of electronic poll books, a digital check-in process for voters that the county’s newest chief election official did away with this election. Poll workers reverted to a paper system that involved making calls to a hotline at the central election office in order to check-in voters who arrived without their vote-by-mail ballot in hand.
As predicted by experienced staffers during pre-election poll worker training, the change back to paper resulted in much slower voter check-in times.
Poll workers reported wait times ranging from two up to 22 minutes to reach staff on a hotline set up at Shasta’s central ballot processing office. Once connected with an election staffer via the phone, additional minutes were required to actually complete the voter check-in process. The delays were exacerbated by the usual evening rush at the polls starting around 4:30 and continuing for several hours.
It’s unclear how many voters left the polls due to the hotline wait issue, although more than a half dozen instances of apparent voter disenfranchisement were reported to Shasta Scout by poll workers and voters at a variety of Redding precincts.
Assistant Registrar of Voters Brent Turner, who was hired a few months ago by Shasta’s top election official, Clint Curtis, told Shasta Scout yesterday that he’s heard similar reports of impacts on voter access.
Turner said the election office will spend this week reviewing incident reports submitted by poll workers during the election. Shasta Scout has submitted a public records request to review those documents when they become available.
Jeff Morrow, who’s served as a precinct inspector — or poll place manager — in the last six elections, said the time comparison between how long it takes to check-in voters on electronic poll books versus paper rosters is steep even when a hotline call isn’t needed. With the use of the electronic system, poll workers can connect remotely with the larger voting database to confirm voters addresses, check them in to vote and mark whether they’ve surrendered a vote-by-mail ballot.
“It’s about one minute on the poll pads versus 8-10 on paper,” Morrow explained. His comment matched time estimates shared by election staffers during a recent poll worker training event.
Shasta County switched to electronic poll books a few years ago after former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut successfully petitioned supervisors to support a five-year, $350,000 contract that involved the purchase of the machines as well as ongoing support for their use. Only Supervisor Patrick Jones opposed the vote.
This year, Registrar of Voters (ROV) Curtis reversed that decision, eliminating the use of electronic poll books during the county’s latest election. Turner said Curtis’ decision was based on concerns about the technology.
“Not that it’s inherently bad but flawed to an extent where it’s available to abuse,” Turner said.
“He’s trying to leave no stone unturned, and it creates extra work for everyone, but in his opinion this extra work is crucially important to making elections secure and [making sure] that no one with a technology expertise can affect an election process.”
Concerns about electronic poll pads arose in the lead-up to the 2024 election. The technology isn’t required by law in California but is used by about 70% of counties under regulations set by the state.
During the evening rush on Election Day, Shasta Scout observed four employees in the upstairs call center answering phones that rang again almost as soon as each call ended. Phones had to be manned between 7 a.m. when the polls opened until 8 p.m. when they closed. At the time, Turner told a reporter that there was no issue with hotline staffing despite the ever-ringing phones. But yesterday, Turner said he now believes the office could use twice as many people manning the hotlines at the upcoming June election.
“We were really testing the perseverance of the workers by making them work that hard for that long,” Turner said. “So I say just increase the staff by four, and then it won’t be as onerous on the workers.”
Paul Spencer is a senior attorney with the nonprofit advocacy firm, Disability Rights California. On Nov. 4, he spent about six hours observing the polls in Shasta, where he watched for voter accessibility issues as he’s done in the past.
Spencer said this year he saw precinct inspectors spending at least half their time on the phones dealing with hotline calls. That’s problematic, the attorney explained, because anything that distracts inspectors and other poll workers from managing the polling place can decrease accessibility.
About 30% of the voters he observed coming to the polling places arrived without a vote-by-mail ballot in hand, Spencer said. Those voters could have been given the option to vote provisionally instead of having to wait for a hotline call. Provisional ballots are intended to serve as a fail-safe voting option when eligibility can’t be immediately determined. But most of the precinct inspectors Spencer observed weren’t offering that option to voters.
While DRC doesn’t advocate for or against electronic poll books, Spencer said his observation in Shasta showed that the change back to paper after several years of using the electronic system burdened voters and made the role of election workers harder.
“Anytime you change something, it’s difficult,” Spencer said, describing the process of retraining poll workers and educating voters. “And this time it was a step backward for voters.”
11.14.25 9:30 am: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Verified Voting as having involvement with poll pad support.
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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People, have no doubt about this. All of this is about controlling the vote, thus controlling the control of our country. These people trying to change our elections are not about democracy, they’re about control.
All these lies about how our elections were not secure, are just a ruse to actually make our elections less secure.
Anybody who doesn’t care about the freedoms of other people, will eventually lose their own freedom as well.
I know many of you don’t want to be involved in politics because of how disgustingly ugly it has become, but it’s not even an option anymore.
Either you push back, or you let people take control.
And I’m going to tell you that the people that are most qualified to lead this country are the people who don’t want to take control.
You should be immediately suspicious of anyone who wants to ‘take control of our country’.
Think for yourselves. Be free. Be independent. Don’t give into those people who tell you that they know what is best for you, and for everybody else.
Refuse.
Resist.
Be an individual.
This could all have been avoided and votes counted on time if everyone would have just mailed in their ballots. With only two issues on the ballot and everyone knowing how they would vote on them there was no sane reason not to mail them in.
Several California counties already use VBM exclusively. No polling places other than county clerk’s office.
I have worked as an inspector for Shasta County for many elections (I’ve lost count). This election was difficult solely based on Mr. Curtis decision to get rid of the Poll Pads. Those pads made check in a breeze. It also made errors less likely.
Next, the team answering the phone lines were amazingly efficient, given what the had to work with. Any time I called, once the call was answered, they system allowed them to help me quickly. Unfortunately, I waited as long as 19 minutes for one call, with frustrated voters waiting. There would have been no lines at my precinct this election had it not been for the return to the paper process.
The June election will be a nightmare with increased items on the ballot along with higher participation.
For those who commented on the security of the Poll Pads… The workers on the other end of the line were accessing the same information electronically. It also has the potential to be hacked. If anyone thinks otherwise, they have zero knowledge of technology.
In regards to training, Jenae is amazing and has been providing this training for years. The poll worker coordinator, Destiny, was also super helpful and friendly. If it wasn’t for these ladies, the election would have gone even worse. Mr Curtis needs to quit blaming others and look to himself alone.
I have been watching the chaos play out in Shasta County. I can’t believe the BOS chose to appoint someone with ZERO election experience to run their elections! This is what you get!
The voting precinct that I worked at, when polling observer Rennean Lund showed up and heard from our polling team that the phone hotline was taking to long to get thru, that the process was too slow. Rennean responds was, the problem was caused by the trainer who trained the poll workers. The training class was not long enough and the trainer she felt did not know what she was doing or talking about.
That was a puzzling response, considering the complaint wasn’t about training, it was about how long the wait time was to get somebody to answer the phone at HQ office to gather information.
From what it appears like, the old way was too efficient, so they (powers to be) change back to in person answering system . Mind-boggling….
I think if we had gotten some kind of public messages on tv& face book etc. it would have caused alot less stress. Also no other country in California has made this procedure. I have here voted in Shasta county for 30 years & never experienced this. I all most left poll center.I contacted secretary of state & left my information, but still haven’t heard any response back. This is Kevin crye making fault putting Clint ?? In charge of Voter. I will be voting Clint out
Wow, are we in trouble or what? And, today I just got a report that the count is off by around 1500 ballots? Yesterday LA County had more ballots counted than Shasta? How can that even be possible? What’s going on down there? This election there were only one or two items on the ballot. The June 2026 ballot will have lots of statewide propositions and candidates for various local, state, and federal offices, plus the illegal nightmare of the Hobbs Initiative. Seems like a thorough review is in order!
What exactly was the supposed security issue with the poll pads?
And by the way, still waiting for any of the evidence of massive election fraud that’s supposedly happening in Shasta county. Anyone got anything?
Clint Curtis is now the ROV, if there was any type of fraud to be found surely he would have found it by now. Right?
Turner is becoming quite the Baghdad Bob, isn’t he?
Selah
Puuuleeze! We don’t want to go backward. Reinstall the electronic system.
This just in: “Terrible half-baked plan from oafs with zero experience was a terrible decision after all!”
Who knew!? While they may not have the smarts, at least they have their looks! Right??
I have been a polling site inspector for 10 + years. Since Calif. decided, post Covid, to retain the policy that all registered voters would receive a mail in ballot whether they asked for it or not it can be confusing for the in-person voter. Voters are learning but there are still those who show up without their mail in ballot. It’s the quickest proof that you haven’t already mailed it in. The electronic poll pad sped up the process of verification for both the voter and the poll workers. The poll pad has literally nothing to do with the voter’s vote. It just makes the check in more efficient. I understand we want to do all we can to insure safe secure elections and if that means going back to everything on paper only, the county has to be able to have the number of staff needed to compensate for the time to not only check voters in but to count the votes. Paper may be “safer” but it takes TIME.
Well said! I was a volunteer this year at a polling site and saw first hand how the system worked. There certainly was a long wait for many voters who had to wait up to 20 minutes or so for the staffer to get through to the hotline. As you mentioned, many voters did not know about bringing in their mail in ballot and that seemed to cause confusion. I must commend not only the inspector at our site, but all the volunteers who worked the 15 hour day. It was a long day, but I am so glad I was able to be a part of it!
And for those who fear technology, believing it can be hacked, electronic poll pads are not connected to the Internet. They use 256-bit encrypted phone lines to connect to the mainframe computer at the election office. They enable real time confirmation the voter is registered and has not cast a ballot elsewhere or returned a VBM ballot.
There you go again, relying on those pesky facts. As someone who has volunteered in many elections, including this last one, the poll pads were amazing. They were more efficient and more accurate than the human process. It frustrates me that decisions in elections are now made by “leaders” with zero elections administration experience based on suspicions rather than being evidence based and evaluated by staff with elections expertise. The BOS majority and ROV Curtis and Asst ROV Turner have made us a laughingstock.
The Supe majority’s goal is to sabotage our election so people give up on voting.
“Paper may be “safer” “. I don’t believe that. If checkers in our stores used pen and paper, or adding machines to add up our bills There would have to be many more mistakes that using the code readers most stores use now.
Indeed!