Shasta County voters appear to have ousted a controversial elections chief who promotes conspiracy theories about voter fraud, even as they approved a ballot measure that would require hand-counting ballots and voter ID, conflicting with California election law. - Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis, who has advocated for the initiative, will remain in office until the end of the year if the results hold.
- Former elections office worker Joanna Francescut was leading Curtis with about 56% of the vote on Wednesday. - The county’s Measure B, requiring hand-counting of ballots, in-person voting and voters to show ID, was leading by 2,464 votes.
- A local journalist raised concerns about the threat of future violence at elections offices after she saw an election worker activate what appeared to be a stun gun. The apparent passage of Measure B sets the stage for a conflict in state courts that Shasta County is likely to lose, as courts found that a similar measure Huntington Beach passed in 2024 requiring voters to show ID violated state law.