The District 4 seat for the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will be up for grabs in 2024. It's currently held by Board Chair Patrick Jones. Matt Plummer says he's running for the seat because he can bring increased stability and a more effective approach to the workings of local government.
Crye ran for Supervisor on a platform of promoting unity and tackling governmental corruption. He says his track record speaks to his success. Those who want to recall him say he’s been one of three fiscally irresponsible and reckless leaders who’ve destabilized the County in ways that will cause long-term harm. They’re targeting Crye for recall because they see it as the easiest path towards shifting the Board majority.
Supervisors are moving towards an elections process that doesn’t yet have legal parameters in place: a full manual tally of the County’s votes. Last Thursday, April 6, Supervisors also spent $800,000 of the County’s General Fund money to pay for a new electronic voting machine system in order to comply with state and federal voting rights laws.The County’s full cost for recent changes to the election process is still unknown.
The Board approved moving towards a full manual tally of all of Shasta County’s votes while agreeing to provide enough accessible ballot marking devices to comply with state and federal accessibility laws. It’s not yet clear what process they will follow, whether it will be certified by the state, or how they will fund it. They’ve also not yet chosen a vendor to replace Dominion in order to provide accessible voting machines for those with disabilities and the elections software needed to create ballots.
Supervisors will vote today on the County's election process. Elections Clerk Cathy Darling Allen says they must choose an electronic voting machine system today to avoid missing election deadlines. They could also institute a partial hand count, in a process compliant with state and federal laws.
As Shasta County supervisors prepare to vote on the County’s election system, we summarize important specifics about how computerized voting systems work, as recently shared by nonprofit voting access advocates.
Details about a potential plan for limited hand counting of votes emerges and nonprofit voting-access-advocates-respond. Plus, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's statements about voting access for those with disabilities.
On February 28, Supervisor Jones hopes to persuade others on the Board to initiate hand counting as a way to tabulate election results in Shasta County. Both the County's Election Official and an attorney with California Disability Rights say that's not legal.
Shasta County Supervisors didn’t look at data before deciding to terminate the county’s contract with Dominion. Instead they based the decision, which will reportedly cost the County at least $1 million, on perceptions of community trust.
Despite a difficult history on the board Rickert says she's reaching out for meetings with newly elected board members and hopes to collaborate on forward movement for the county.
Shasta Scout is proud to have been providing in-depth coverage of local elections since 2022.
