Shasta County Elections Clerk Confirms That November Votes Will Be Counted by Machine, Not by Hand, Due to New State Law
Registrar of Voters Cathy Allen Darling says the county will no longer manually tally votes now that AB969 has been signed into law.
“AB969 simply preserves the safe, accurate, and secure way that we have been conducting elections in Shasta County for many years,” Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Allen Darling told Shasta Scout earlier today, October 18.
“Since the hand count process was never implemented for an election,” she continued, “voters will not see any change to their voting experience as a result of AB969.”
In late March, Shasta County Supervisors directed county staff to develop a manual tally process for votes. Since then, County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Allen Darling has been working with California’s Secretary of State to develop a state-approved process that would meet the board’s demand for a hand count while also meeting state certification requirements meant to protect the election process.
Much of that work will fall by the wayside, Darling Allen confirmed today, in response to Governor Newsom’s signature on Assembly Bill 969, which outlaws using a primarily manual tally of votes in all elections except those with a relatively small number of eligible registered voters.
Given the new state law, Darling Allen said, Shasta County will return to its long-standing use of machine ballot tabulation. As always, the Elections Office will also draw a random sample of 1% of the ballots to be hand-counted to confirm the validity of the machine count.
Votes in the upcoming election will be tabulated on machines that are part of the Hart InterCivic Voting System that was approved for purchase by the board in April, Darling Allen told Shasta Scout. That purchase became necessary after the Board canceled its contract for Dominion voting machines in January, leaving Darling Allen without a California-certified voting system in place.
Last week, Shasta County Board Chair Patrick Jones said he would ask the board to initiate legal action to ensure that the county could continue to hand count votes during the November election. But at yesterday’s October 17 meeting, the board took no action on the topic. Instead, Jones tabled the issue after public comment saying he wanted to wait to discuss it until Darling Allen could be there to answer his questions about voting machines in person.
During yesterday’s public comment a number of community members continued to assert their concerns that election fraud might occur if machines are used to count Shasta election votes this fall. They provided no clear theory of how such fraud could be committed. Theories that have been proposed include suggestions that voting machines could be hacked in order to add or remove votes for particular candidates, or that paper ballots could be tampered with by elections staff, volunteers, or the voting machines themselves.
Despite the lack of valid evidence that election fraud has ever occurred in Shasta County, some public speakers yesterday also called for Darling Allen to be dismissed from public office due to what they referred to as her ongoing “interference” with the elections process. Again no clear evidence of such interference was provided.
Have questions, concerns, or comments you’d like to share with us directly? Reach out: editor@shastascout.org. If you choose to leave a comment please keep in mind our community guidelines. All comments will be moderated to ensure a healthy civic dialogue.
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There’s only one remedy for Patrick Jones and his Choir…don’t vote on November 7th and you’ll be relieved of all your stress. Please, Mr. Jones, just let the most highly elected official in Shasta Co. do her job.
I never thought I’d have to say how relieved I am that we have an elected official who follows the law despite intense pressure and attacks from the BOS. Election fraud is a boogeyman; it’s beyond embarrassing we have Supervisors who believe in the boogeyman and are willing to spend taxpayer dollars pursuing the boogeyman in court.
So glad that Darling Allen has stayed on the job despite a continuous assault from the Shasta County Board. In relation to Patrick Jones comment about initiating legal action against the State of CA regarding AB969, how does he plan to pay those legal bills? It better be coming out of his pocket and not an increase to our property taxes. If the current board continues to pursue an alternative reality, they can expect the “silent majority,” to unleash how they really want their representatives to act and they will be voted out.
Thanks and kudos to Cathy Darling Allen. She was calm, consistent and patient in her dealings with the “controversy” that was—and likely will be again—such a waste of her time. I hope she now can focus on her actual job.
‘Again no clear evidence of such interference was provided…’
As was the case time after time.
There has yet to be a single shred of proof or evidence of any type of local election fraud.
Machine tallied results can be trusted as long as we do the 1% hand count audit. The goal here among those who just can’t accept the 2020 election results is to discourage people from voting by suggesting our elections are rife with fraud and can’t be trusted. Election deniers pushing this narrative are likely discouraging their own tribe from voting while the rest of us vote as usual knowing our elections are free, fair and accurate.
Why would you do a hand count audit when you people claim hand counts are off by 25%?
It’s interesting to think about the mathematical significant of the likelihood of accuracy of a 1% hand count audit vs full hand count. In the upcoming November election, a 1% hand count of ballots in an election that affects approximately 5,000 registered voters is likely to mean counting around 25 ballots vs a full hand count of the perhaps 2,500 of ballots likely to be cast. Which sounds more likely to be accurate?
Why do a 1% hand count audit?
1. Because it is a type of statistical audit.
2. Statistical audits have been used and relied on in many different fields for verification purposes for a loooong time now. Proven reliability.
3. The smaller the number of items that need to be counted, the lower the error rate.
4. It is also done to be in compliance with the law. You are for law and order, aren’t you?
But you don’t have to take my word for it. You can do your own research and verify everything that I just told you for yourself.
And rightfully so ! Cathy Darling Allen is a LAW abiding ROV and trustworthy beyond compare! Thank you Cathey and your amazing staff!
This is a relief to hear! I’m glad to know that we have a system in place so that votes are actually counted.
Happy we are using machines to count ballots. Darling Allen should get a raise for all her effort to protect all the county voters.
Totally agree!