Emotions run high at tense candidate forum featuring ROV hopefuls Clint Curtis and Joanna Francescut
Candidates responded to questions as basic as their willingness to comply with state and federal law while each claimed they were the person to maintain the public’s trust in the election process.
Of all the local candidate forums hosted by Shasta’s League of Women Voters this election season, yesterday’s was the most well attended by far. It was also the forum where audience members were the worst behaved. Multiple times, the event’s facilitator reprimanded attendees for booing, clapping, and verbally expressing their disapproval of the candidates — a violation of LWV rules that were established in a commitment toward maintaining a nonpartisan atmosphere.
The forum featured two of the upcoming primary’s most high-profile candidates: incumbent Clint Curtis and his challenger, former Assistant ROV Joanna Francescut, both running for the position of Shasta Registrar of Voters. On the evening of April 22, the community room at the Redding Library was flooded with voters, keen to hear the two candidates’ talking points in an extremely polarizing race.
For many years, Shasta County’s election office has been the site of fierce public discourse, making both local and global headlines. Before Curtis’ time, one segment of the public had consistently alleged that former ROV Cathy Darling Allen and her right-hand woman Francescut were agents of fraud — allegations that have not held up in court. In the days since Curtis was appointed to his current role in 2025, he has been accused of misuse of public funds, partisanship in what is legally defined as a nonpartisan office, and changes to the county’s election system that left some voters disenfranchised in the last election.
People from both sides of the community debate showed up to the forum, where some saw Curtis as a bulwark for election security while others perceived him as an infiltrator – and the same could be said about Francescut’s admirers and critics. While both candidates drew audience reactions at times, most of the community’s jeering was directed toward Curtis, who maintained a humorous tone amid pushback from his opponent and the crowd.
Unlike Curtis, who has unsuccessfully run for office before, this is Francescut’s first experience as a candidate. Unlike Francescut, Curtis had never lived in Shasta County or worked in an election office prior to his current role. On the topic of experience, the two candidates took opposing stances: Francescut leaning on her years of local election work at every level to buttress her responses, while Curtis portrayed his career as a lawyer as providing him with the necessary experience to interpret election law.
“I’m an attorney that sues poll workers, county clerks, all those people, so I actually have to know their job better than they do,” Curtis said. It’s unclear what election-related legal experience Curtis has had. A background check conducted before his appointment to the role of ROV did not document any such experience beyond claims made by Curtis on his application materials.
During Wednesday’s forum, Curtis and Francescut were asked questions about the importance of complying with state and federal election law, the necessity of appearing nonpartisan in the role of ROV, and how they would alleviate election-related tension among local voters. In response, Curtis repeatedly asserted unproven claims that previous election staff — which would include Francescut — had interfered with local election results. Francescut responded by accusing Curtis of lying.
One of the debate’s numerous heated moments came when Curtis suggested that the election results for Supervisor Kevin Crye’s recall — which Crye survived by only 50 votes — should have resulted in a wider margin of safety, according to Curtis’ personal review of the preliminary results of that race. Clint added that he’s invited the Department of Justice to “come look at it”. Later in the forum, Francescut countered his accusation, pointing out that while she was assistant ROV, the elections office chose to conduct a hand recount of the ballots cast in that neck-and-neck competition to ensure their accuracy.
Another squabble occurred when Curtis claimed that Francescut and other election workers had not followed election laws — a statement which drew audible disapproval from the audience. Curtis pointed out past procedural issues with how election staff had conducted what’s called an “alpha draw” to determine the order of candidates on a ballot. Francescut responded, saying, “I will take ownership and accountability that I did not train my staff appropriately.” This followed her earlier claim that some of Curtis’ newly implemented procedures were “duplicative” and caused “longer processing times.”
The two candidates also disagreed on another fundamental question — whether or not the ROV has an obligation to appear nonpartisan in their role.
“Everybody has an opinion, and so people who say they’re nonpartisan, they’re just not telling you which way they lean,” Curtis said, declaring that he used to be a Democrat and is now a Republican. “I’m not gonna lie to you and tell you something different,” he added. He noted that he has been endorsed by the Shasta County Republican Central Committee and the Shasta County Republican Assembly. Curtis also said he’s endorsed by the American Independent Party, though he does not appear on their list of California endorsements.
In contrast, Francescut expressed her commitment to nonpartisanship saying “you as a voter should not know my political opinions.” She added she does not want any voter to feel disenfranchised by being made aware of her political identity as she’s overseeing the counting of ballots. On the topic of endorsements, Francescut said, “I have not sought any endorsements from any local or state officials that I might have to administer an election for.” She said that she would not want voters to feel disenfranchised by her oversight of the tallying of votes if she openly declared an opposite political identity than some people in the community.
4.23.26 8:03 pm: We have updated this story to correct a date, a location, and a reference to one of Francescut’s statements.
Do you have information or a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Thanks to Shasta Scout for excellent reporting on this issue. I’m not in favor of allowing the turmoil that has engulfed the ROV Office over the last couple of years to continue. The repeated allegations of incompetence or violation of the law against Ms. Fransecut have not been proven and no investigation has been undertaken, so I have to view those allegations as being just that… “allegations.” In political circles, that’s known as “smear tactics.”
Clown Curtis is an incompetent fabulist and liar. If he is elected, our elections will devolve into chaos and lawsuits. Time to end the madness.
Selah
What struck me most at the debate was how many former poll workers showed up in support of Joanna.
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Look, you got men and women, young and old, different religions, different ethnicities, different political persuasions, yet they all have something in common. They have all done their civic duty with little regard for themselves, and they want fair, non-partisan leadership in elections. And they want it done with truth and integrity.
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Imagine being a poll worker working a 14 to 16 hour day and getting paid a measly $100 stipend. The hours were long and thankless, no one was doing this for the money. They were doing this because democracy is a valuable thing for our society.
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Do you know how offensive it is to these poll workers to make all those unfounded claims about mass selection fraud? Do you not think that any one of them would have turned in any fraud if they discovered it? What are the chances that there were so many people all colluding on some type of mass collection fraud and no one let anything slip?
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Pure nonsense. Statistically impossible when you think of the thousands and thousands of poll workers across the entire US.
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If there was anything, then somebody by now would have provided 100% pure concrete evidence of mass election fraud.
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But still….nothing.
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And to be continually denigrated by the same small group of election deniers…
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You know what is un-American and unpatriotic? Bearing false witness against your neighbors and other Americans. America’s enemies couldn’t ask for anything better.
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You can only cry wolf for so long before you have to put up or shut up. People are tired of the lies, and that applies to people on both on the left and the right of politics.
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The one and only thing that I am grateful to Mr Curtis for is the fact that he is uniting people against the lies. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t realize that and that is why he’s going to lose “massively”.
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Send a message that you want true election integrity in Shasta county. Enough us enough. Send these grifters packing and let’s get back to making our county the great place that it should be.
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If you actually made it to the end of this, thank you for listening to my little rant. Good night, and good luck.
The choice is clear. Clint Curtis is head and shoulders above Joanna. The improvements Clint has made to improve election transparency and security are dramatic. We can’t go back to the days of limited transparency and no real chain of custody security.
Head and shoulders above Joanna? Only because he’s taller.
Bruce, in the future you’re going to be so embarrassed when you tell people that you used to support Clint Curtis…
Both Joanna & Clint were on the Action News Now (NBC Chico) podcast. Joanna about a month ago; Clint last week. Both podcasts were over 35 minutes in length but I encourage all to watch. Clint directly called Joanna, “The little gal I’m running against…”, & stated, “Violations of State law don’t happen with hand counting.”. Also, “The old Elections Office workers hated the public.” Also stating “Under the past ROV’s there was a lot of discrimination against Republicans in a 60% to 30% ratio of Republicans to Democrats.” And one last Clinton comment from his podcast, “Third world countries ran better elections than Shasta County did in the past.” It is absurd that anyone would believe this carpetbagger from Florida who lies every time he opens his mouth. In contrast, Joanna’s podcast appearance was one of election knowledge, professional demeanor & commitment to her profession & our County. The choice is clear; vote Joanna Francescut for County Clerk/Registrar of Voters on June 2nd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVJlcsgOGIQ
He calls himself an attorney when he is not licensed here and it is illegal to do so. CalBar complaints may be filed here: https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/complaint/Upl/Index
Clint lying about his qualifications and trash talking his own department? Must be a day that ends in Y.
Regarding the alpha draw question, not only did Francescut take ownership of her mistake and explain it fully, the issue was heard in court (lawsuit by Laura Hobbs) and after hours of testimony was dismissed with a comment by the judge about the appalling lack of evidence.
One blew smoke, one offered experience and commitment. Easy choice for me.
I agree, Judy! Joanna shows commitment AND experience. She has my vote for sure!
In my opinion the Register of Voters position should be non-partisan.
Grift Curtis, with that smarmy grin, reminds me of Professor Harold Hill from “The Music Man.” (I’m really dating myself with this one.) A con man from out of town who easily bamboozles the local rubes.
“My friends ya got trouble! (rube chorus: “Trouble”)
Right here in River City! (rube chorus: “We got trouble”)
With a capital “T”
And that rhymes with “V”
And that stands for “voting machines!” (rube chorus: “Oh yeah, we got trouble”)
The difference is that Harold Hill kind of redeems himself at the end of the musical. Grift Curtis and his assistant Side-Show Brent are going to be sent packing to the next town full of easy marks.
“Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! We’re going to leave you now!”
I thought this exact thing! The way he said “you’ve seen my elections!” I though he was about to start singing Trouble!
The only thing that would have made this forum more fitting would have been if Curtis would have dressed as a clown, face paint and all, because that’s exactly what I see whenever the man speaks.
I attended that event and I don’t think the audience deserves the “worst behaved” title. I heard some quiet laughter and grumbling when Curtis spoke on a few occasions but no “booing”. That being said, I was sitting in the back so perhaps didn’t hear it. Still, Mr. Curtis has been and continues to publicly disparage past ROV’s as well as Joanna Francescutt ; it’s no wonder the audience was a bit more vocal than usual. Smiles or no smiles, one typically gets what they give. I was pleased to see such a high turnout. When meetings are lively instead of boring I think a bit of “brew ha ha’ing” can be excused. Think Parliament.
We need Muntadhar al-Zaidi to move to Redding and lead some workshops.
Point of clarification, when Curtis mentioned the Alpha Draw not being done correctly, Francescut rebutted on topic by pointing out the Alpha Draw was done late by Curtis in the last election. She did not mention the late certification in that response; those are different things.
This is a great article, but there was so much more during the forum last night. It actually lasted less than an hour. Watch it. The choice is clear. #VoteJoannaForCountyClerk this June 2nd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbca_SKyZ8o
Thank you for providing the link to the video. It would have been nice if Shasta Scout had included it in the body of the article.