Shasta ROV’s failure to shred 2024 ballots draws ire of county officials but so far, no consequence
An official with the state said elections official Clint Curtis was instructed this afternoon that he must continue with the shred, noting that he’s stated that he plans to comply. It’s unclear so far what penalties he might face if he doesn’t or how the process of prosecuting his failure to destroy ballot materials might play out.
Today, for a second time, Shasta County elections official Clint Curtis decided not to follow a state law that requires him to shred ballots from 2024.
He hasn’t issued a press release and said he didn’t have time to speak to a reporter who showed up at his office this afternoon. A staffer said that today’s decision not to shred ballots from the November 2024 election stemmed from materials found mixed in with the ballots that are believed to be the subject of a public records request.
It’s the third reason Curtis has found this month not to follow the law, which requires him to shred ballots 22 months after a federal election — for the November 2024 election, that date landed on Sept. 5. Curtis has said without producing evidence that he believes the election materials may include fraudulent ballots and that he wants federal officials to inspect them.
His other reasons for failing to shred the documents so far have included a miscommunication with the shredding company and litigation filed by one of his political allies in an attempt to halt ballot destruction. The litigation failed in court earlier this month.
The Shasta County CEO’s office delivered a harsh rebuke to Curtis today after his decision to delay destruction of ballots again, citing state law requiring the destruction of ballot materials and referring to Curtis as being in violation of that law. The press release, sent by Deputy CEO Stewart Buettell, noted that the only lawful exception permitting the continued retention of the materials would be a court order, which hasn’t been issued.
“The County remains steadfast in its expectation that all department heads comply with federal and state law, uphold their constitutional duties, and maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct in public service,” Buettell wrote.
A representative with the Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent this afternoon but the California Secretary of State’s Office did respond, sharing a missive that was sent to Curtis this afternoon at 2:15 p.m. making clear that he was to shred the ballots.
Clint,
As you are aware, state and federal law clearly defines the timing and disposition of 2024 election materials. If you are being advised by someone to retain the materials in violation of state and federal law, please notify me immediately. Otherwise, it is past the deadline and you must comply. Please notify my office when these materials are destroyed.
A state spokesperson also said that Curtis had responded to the communication, saying he intended to comply with the state’s direction to destroy the documents.
If he fails to do so, it’s not clear yet what mechanism might be used to hold Curtis accountable for violating election law and whether that mechanism might involve action by other county officials, the state or the federal government, which also outlines legal restrictions around ballot retention.
Shasta District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Brionna Sisneros said this afternoon that she could not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sheriff’s office did not respond at all.
Chris Kelstrom, the chair of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, said by phone this afternoon that while the county does not condone Curtis’ actions, he does not expect the board to take any further steps to address the matter because he believes jurisdiction for prosecuting Curtis likely lies with the state.
“We have no plans as of right now for an emergency board meeting,” Kelstrom said. “As of right now there’s nothing for the board to take action on.”
But Supervisor Matt Plummer shared a different perspective, hearkening back to comments made by County Counsel Joseph Larmour two weeks ago during a public board discussion when he said that supervisors have an option to file legal action in an attempt to make Curtis comply with the law by bringing the matter into the courts.
“Basically, I don’t think there’s any good reason not to follow the law,” Plummer said. “And if the board has an option to compel Curtis through the courts to follow the law, then I think that’s something we should consider.”
With Curtis occupied this afternoon, Shasta County elections staffer Ron Plumb spoke to a reporter, saying his understanding of what happened today was that when the ballot boxes were opened to be given to the shredding company, there were election materials mixed in with the ballots that were known to be the subject of a public records request. He said Curtis then decided not to shred the materials as planned.
Plumb, who’s also a leader with the New California State movement — which views the California government as tyrannical and corrupt — referred to the Sept. 5 deadline for ballot destruction as “not a real strict date” and said Curtis was working on getting in touch with the secretary of state.
He said Curtis “wants to follow the law” but is caught between what he believes is his duty as registrar of voters and the opinion of county counsel who, Plumb noted, told Curtis today that he should continue with the shred.
California’s penalty provisions appear to indicate that Curtis’ failure to follow election laws could result in a fine of $1,000 or imprisonment for up to three years or both.
This is a developing story.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Would I want to know, is during this poll worker training? Are we teaching them? How to properly sniff the ballots??
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I really don’t want an unproperly trained person to be sniffing MY ballot. That’s expensive.
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Are we also teaching them how to adequately feel the ballots? I really don’t want anyone to be manhandling my ballot when it arrives, I want them to actually be able to feel all the thought that I put into my ballot selection so they can tell that it’s real.
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Please telling me we are having them professionally taught by professional sniffers and touchers.
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I demand nothing less than this in Shasta county!!
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Oh boy, isn’t this election going to be fun boys and girls???
Love your comment Jolly! 😉 Can we spray perfume or cologne on the ballots now to test the sniffer’s knowledge of scents? They’ve left off the sensory taste test portion of the senses.
Curtis does have his specially trained sniffer team employees-Kari, Marjorie, Michelle, Laura and the old guys -Nick, Tim and the dentist (name??) plus a few others. How much additional staff time does it take to sniff, taste, feel and eyeball each ballot? Will it slow down the count time? Hmmmm…
I think we should go to the ROV office before the midterms and ask Clint to smell the ballots. Or should we make easier on him and mark a big D on the envelope.
The BOS failure to do anything about it opens the door for some other unsuspecting city, county or state to fall into the same trap with Curtis in the future. By their inaction, they buy in to his shenanigans and hold themselves out as supporting him.
This is why I support Mike Gallagher for Shasta County Board District 5. Great leadership requires good decision making.
LMAO, good one!
Lockem up!
A big concern is that if Curtis was unable to properly store the material he was guarding for evidence of election fraud, how is he going to conduct the upcoming midterm properly? As time gets closer, the feasibility of Fransescut taking over early and conducting the November 3rd election properly becomes less.
Everything Curtis has done is pure delay and deceive about what is going on in his negligently run elections department. His ignoring the rules of conduct are very much like trumps and I believe we can expect results for the November 3rd election to be mishandled. It is clear that the local authorities have not boldly addressed the malfeasance in an effective manner. Reminds me of the federal democratic party legislators.
So Kelstrom doesn’t expect the BOS to take any further action. Supervisor Plummer states that the Board has the option to file legal action in an attempt to make Curtis comply with the law by bringing the matter into the courts. So Kelstrom, Crye and Harmon who put Curtis in office, over a well qualified candidate, are willing to do nothing. Supervisor Plummer is ready to take action as he stated above. Long, strangely quiet during this fiasco, wonder why. Sorry folks we are stuck. The bigger question is the Nov 3rd election. Is there any chance it will be free and fair. Can we request that State auditors attend to assure that it is? Surely the BOS can at least request State help, even KCH cannot refuse to do that and if they do who can send the request?
With Clint, it seems to be all about the drama, doesn’t it?
How long will our citizenry allow MAGA to disrupt our election processes by use of gossip level nonsense? Trumps own Attorney General, Bill Barr, testified under oath, in front of the world, that Trumps claims of election fraud are “BULLSHIT”. Trump failed to substantiate his fraud claims in 60 court rooms and Curtis is playing the same idiotic games here at home. They are desperate to keep their cult in line until election day. Absolutely pathetic.
Don’t tell me that when those records were originally locked up that Curtis didn’t know what those boxes contained. If he didn’t, he’s incompetent; any knowledgeable custodian of records has to know what records are created, where they are physically located, and which records are destroyed.
In this case, it’s obvious that the fox is guarding the hen house. The fox has outwitted the Supervisors and is dining on the public’s inability to do anything about it.
How does “material that’s known to be the subject of a public records request” wind up “mixed in with the ballots”?
Seems like somebody down there failed when they mixed it in, and it also sounds like somebody down there failed to find this material when the public records request came in. And then failed to make an appointment for shredding, and then failed to actually shred when the (late) appointment came around yesterday.
it does appear that the logs were hidden with the ballots to insure shredding….
Oh really??
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Wouldn’t you say that it’s a very convenient that there just happens to be a current PRA for the exact information that just happened to be in these ballot boxes??
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Wow, what a coincidence!!
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You don’t think that Mr. Curtis would tell someone to put in a PRA for something that he already knew was in the boxes, would he??
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Nah … That’s not possible at all.
Just because a person submits a public records request doesn’t mean the documents requested can legally be given or that there is a fraudulent or illegal reason they are in the boxes. If they were in more than 1 box maybe there is a reason and it’s not illegal or fraudulent. Follow the law and move forward. I’m more concerned it is so close to the November election and this is what Mr. Curtis is focusing on rather than the election itself!
Put him in jail. It’s the best place for him.
Curtis needs to spend serious time in the clink. These election-fabulist yahoos need to learn that breaking the law has consequences. A three-year sentence would serve as a good example.
Since Curtis continues to thumb his nose at California’s election laws, and our local DA is unlikely to hold him accountable, perhaps it is time the State AG and SoS step in and take action. Make an example of him to deter others from disenfranchising voters.
Yes, lock him up! How dare he insist on honesty, integrity and transparency with our elections! Lock him up!
Yes, openly defying state election law is certainly a mark of honesty and integrity. Try harder.
Selah
Honesty and transparency don’t comprise flagrant and open disregard for state law.
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Honesty and transparency don’t comprise locking up ballots in a closet for no cause beyond “they don’t feel or smell right.”
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Honesty and transparency don’t comprise issuing claims of election fraud—fanning the flames of election fabulist paranoia—while offering no evidence for years on end.
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Honesty and transparency don’t comprise certifying two elections to cover your ass, then claiming later that both were horribly corrupted.
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If you think Curtis has introduced honesty and transparency to the ROV’s office, you must have stuffed yourself to the gills with magic mushrooms this morning.
On the contrary, this is a genius hot take at Mountain Top Flop Sweat Media, or Dunning-Kruger Media or whatever they call it.
Selah
Is restricting observers to a small room your idea of transparency? Before Clint, observers could walk to areas where ballots were being processed and tabulated. I guess he does not want anyone to see him stinking up the ballots!
Yes! Lock him up!
So, when there isn’t money for deputies, the jail, public safety, you can thank this jackass, Chris Kelstrom, Corkey Harmon, Kevin Crye… the elections office is funded by General Fund dollars and every time this yahoo decides to not follow the law and embroils the county in litigation, GF dollars are wasted. January can’t come soon enough for this idiot to be out of office.
I’m pretty sure he would be ecstatic if he got locked up. Then he could be as famous as Tina Peters and he’d probably get to meet Trump.
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His worst nightmare is to be ignored, or worse yet forgotten. Just fine him.
Tina Peters would still be in state prison in Colorado if Governor Polis hadn’t folded like a lawn chair in the face of Der Pumpkinführer’s blackmail. I don’t think either Newsom or Becerra would wilt so easily.
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Kelstrom saying that the BOS has no dog in this fight is one of the most chicken-shit cowardly acts of hand-washing we’ve seen in local politics. Jesus God, Chris… you appointed the clown, so it’s your duty to do what you can to mitigate the chaos. You can’t fire him, but you can vote to exile him from all County properties and change the locks on the ROV’s office.
I completly agree with your assessment of Crye, Kelstrom and Harmon’s scuttling away from any responsibility for their action in installing Clintie the Clown. As a practical matter, action by the SOS/AG might be a cleaner shot. I think it is imperative that there be state observers at polling places and the ROV office for this election, and that may be the best chance to make it happen.
Selah
Esteban- your analysis of Kelstrom is 100% on point. As the board chair Kelstrom is unwilling to acknowledge his complicity in appointing this douchebag and now unwilling to exhaust all avenues to restrain Curtis from further antics during this election cycle identifies how weak a leader he is. Kelstrom must be removed from office in November. Do we really think we can have an honest and fair election with Curtis left in charge with Kelstrom still supporting him by his lack of action?
Agree 100%.
The state says, “If you are being advised by someone to retain the materials in violation of state and federal law, please notify me immediately…” Right.
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If you saw the Shasta County Board meeting on Sep. 29, you saw a long list of those tired “someones” demanding Curtis be able to break the law, and that the supervisors have a constitutional duty to let him do so; and yep, it seems they are doing just that.
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Of course, all the usual local election lying deniers who have lost in the courts, have lost their election bids, and are very upset that their adjudicated rapist – 34-count convicted felon is not coming to their rescue. At times, these liars seem to border on delusional; thus, they could be seen as harmless, but expensive fools, and we could leave it at that and just write off a few million dollars flushed down the trumpin propaganda toilet. But that’s not quite true.
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Like the losers Jones and Hobbs, the election-lying deniers also include Supervisors Crye, Corky, and Kelstorm, and their law-breaking Clown Curtis, and, nope, they aren’t going to do a damm thing about it. They won’t even have county counsel issue Curtis a DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE COMPLIANCE WITH CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS CODE § 17301, backed by a court action if he doesn’t. Why? Because the three supervisors in question put Curtis in power to use the ROV office as an adjudicated rapist’s lying propaganda tool, hoping the public loses faith in democracy and that Curtis would do as much as he could, to, as P. Jones put it, “be the tip of the spear,” trumpeting an illegal elections model for both Shasta County and the nation. But things got out of hand; Clint, true in trumpian fashion, went wild and put our county at risk.
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Now the above supervisors just want to wash their hands of him, saying, “he’s not our problem,” and shirk their legal and civic duties to uphold the law and protect citizens.
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Shame on Kelstrorm, Crye, and Cooky for letting lawlessness reign in the ROV office. They do not belong in their chairs as supervisors, and their appointed clown, Curtis, doesn’t belong in the ROV office. In fact, the question is: at what point do these enablers become complicit in their clowns’ crimes?
As a dedicated conservative I agree with everything you said
The September 30 episode involving the Public Records Act request illustrates why this matter cannot arbitrarily be reduced to “Curtis is refusing to obey the law.”
There may be legitimate records-preservation issues within the boxes that need to be resolved.
KRCR reports that Curtis stopped the destruction after discovering potentially responsive records and sought guidance from the Secretary of State.
The legally significant question is therefore whether those additional records create an actual legal preservation obligation that supersedes or modifies the otherwise applicable destruction requirements.
That is ultimately a question for the governing statutes, the courts, and the appropriate governmental authorities—not for either Curtis or his critics to decide unilaterally.
Thomas: Since the SOS told Curtis he must still shred the ballots. What should happen next.
Thomas, didn’t county counsel already say that Curtis isn’t in compliance with the law? Didn’t Curtis seek guidance from the state, which replied, “Clint,
As you are aware, state and federal law clearly defines the timing and disposition of 2024 election materials. If you are being advised by someone to retain the materials in violation of state and federal law, please notify me immediately. Otherwise, it is past the deadline, and you must comply. Please notify my office when these materials are destroyed…”
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So what is this preservation of records notice stuff? Didn’t Arnie List already try that, and wasn’t he already soundly rejected last week in court? And if there’s a new order, where is it? And if there is, does that mean the so-called “records” could be in purgatory for months, or years? If there’s no court-recognized preservation order, couldn’t the county (or a citizen) issue Curtis a Demand for Immediate Compliance, a formal legal notice requiring the recipient to correct a specific violation or fulfill a legal obligation immediately or face court action? There has to be a point where the games must stop.
Well, until Kari Chilson has a court order for those requested documents, she is out of luck. These folks “concerned” about the November 2024 ballots have had 22 entire months to make a case to the courts that some sort of fraud occurred. It also bears reminding the community that the Secretary of State, the State AG, the US Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and other agencies have all been contacted by this group of “election-deniers”, and have provided no information adequate to compell anyone to investigate further than they already have to date.
1. Curtis said he wanted the Secretary of State to address the specific problem of records subject to a pending PRA request being physically mixed with ballot materials scheduled for destruction.
2. The Secretary of State subsequently told Curtis that the statutory deadline had passed and that, absent advice requiring retention, he must proceed with destruction. Curtis then reportedly responded that he would commence the required activities. In fact, the county said no PRA request justified retaining the election materials.
3. What the heck is going on?
4. Really, it’s possible that it’s not really about ballots as far as I can see, but more about Curtis working diligently to violate election laws for far-right extremists who are telling him not to follow the law. Very ironic, as that’s what Curtis and his crew accused the past ROVs of doing, and their unsubstantiated allegations were found in courts to be unfounded.
there is an active grand jury convened in Sacramento looking into the irregularities of the 2026 election… so the FBI does have information adequate to compel a grand jury
A grand jury would “indict a ham sandwich.” Sol Wachtler, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, made this classic legal critique, highlighting how easily prosecutors can secure a grand jury indictment.
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Mr. Velasquez, both you and I have NO publicly substantiated INFORMATION from the DOJ or any officially publicly announced finding that counterfeit ballots or election fraud actually occurred. We do have a —- load of unproven allegations from Curtis, who seems hell-bent on seeing our past ROV’s indicted for election fraud. Funny, none of the past ROV’s were subpoenaed by the DOJ, but it seems Clint Curtis was…
The process of proving irregularities lies with the grand jury review and possible indictment and trial. Are you jumping the gun and calling allegations unproven while the process is under way or just trying to sweep it under the rug like a good comrade. Curtis was subpoenaed by the grand jury investigating the affidavits of 12 observers and county employees who gave testimony of irregularities. Their testimony stated that computer generated ballots on irregular stock were counted in the 2026 primary elections. All of the ballots went against Prop B and were received in the mail after ballots were closed. I want to know if our votes were compromised, don’t you?
Do you understand what the 1% count after elections is?
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Do you understand that it is in fact an audit of the ballots cast to make sure that everything is matching up correctly?
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Please look up statistical sampling and see why you don’t need to go back and re-examine EVERY single ballot to make sure that everything was done fairly and correctly.
Once again. Mr. Velasquez, both you and I have NO publicly substantiated INFORMATION from the DOJ or any officially publicly announced finding that counterfeit ballots or election fraud actually occurred. None.
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Until, if ever, we get some sort of a public statement from the grand jury or the DOJ we are left in the dark. Unless of course you are on the grand jury; I know I’m not.
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Right now all we have is unsubstantiated allegations from people that I personally wouldn’t trust with a 15-ft pole. None of their allegations have been confirmed by anybody. None.
What “irregularities”? Curtis has offered no proof or evidence. Do you have any? It’s put up or shut up time.
Selah
Lock him up.
… and throw away the key.
That’s probably what he wants. Best not to play into his hands so he can make more of a name for himself in the national news. The county should get a court order and the state should fine him. Not sure if it’s $1,000 max fine or per month/week/day but I think they should go that route.
Does he personally pay the fine or do taxpayers pay it? I prefer no fine, Curtis sent directly to jail.
Curtis should pay the fine of course. I don’t think jail is the solution, it just gives him the attention he is seeking.