Early voter turnout for Shasta County is at around 20% as of Sunday, which is ahead of the statewide trend. The Elections Department sent out 117,062 vote-by-mail ballots, and as of Sunday a total of 23,560 ballots had been cast. That’s according to information from the California Secretary of State’s Office, which shows state ballot returns at less than 17%. Ballots postmarked by Tuesday (6/2) will be accepted through June 9th. Of course at this point voters who haven’t mailed in their ballot need to go to their polling place or find a drop box. The boxes are much fewer than in previous Shasta County elections. They’re at the Downtown Redding Elections Office, Redding City Hall, Anderson City Hall, and the Shasta Lake Visitor Center. There are no drop boxes in Eastern Shasta County. Appointed ROV Clint Curtis eliminated most of the boxes out of concern about sabotage or chain of custody issues, though there’s been no evidence of either.
-Steve Gibson