The Shasta County Elections Office has until June 11 to certify the special election for deceased congressman Doug LaMalfa’s vacancy. A new ballot filming process implemented by Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has complicated the timeline. Curtis remains confident.
While candidates Joanna Francescut and Erin Resner have both reached the critical more than 50% totals needed to win a primary, Gallagher remains just shy.
The Redding Rancheria made the maximum-allowed payment of $5,900. It was received by Supervisor Kevin Crye on Election Day. He’s one of only two local candidates the Rancheria supported in this election. A donation to Supervisor Chris Kelstrom for the county’s District 5 race was made two months ago.
The vote totals are still far from complete, about 30,000 of the county’s estimate of 58,000 ballots — also a moving target — still remain to be counted.
Combined with the number of ballots already processed, the uncounted ballot estimate indicates an overall turnout of about 58,000 registered voters in this election. All ballots must be initially processed by end of day June 8, election official Clint Curtis said, to meet a June 11 state deadline.
Due to the special election for California’s District 1 congressional representative, which is on the same ballot as the regular statewide primary elections, Shasta County must meet an earlier deadline to certify at least some election results.
Hale, who currently sits on the Anderson City Council, ran for state assembly with a promise to be a hardliner when it comes to the needs of rural Californians, accusing incumbent Assembly member Heather Hadwick of making too many concessions to Democrats.
As of late morning the day after Election Day, Shasta election officials had “no idea” how many ballots were left to count for the primary election. Nearly 23,000 ballots had been counted as of 3 p.m. on June 3, a number that represents only about 20% of registered voters.
Poll workers at several precinct locations in Shasta County have had difficulty setting up accessible voter machines, and some have expressed concerns about the new poll closer process.
Shasta Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis promised to increase transparency, improve security and eliminate the ideological faultlines that have divided the county’s electorate. Here’s what he’s done so far.
