Doubts continue to be sown concerning the way elections are run in Shasta County, despite an exemplary record of accuracy. During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, numerous attendees repeated concerns that had been expressed by Patrick Jones at the previous meeting. In order to preserve ballot secrecy as guaranteed by the Constitution, the Elections Department has installed bars to allow observers to watch the vote tally process without being close enough to read the names or other identifying information attached to the ballots. Some observers, including Jones, questioned what they saw during the Crye recount and even went so far as to allege impropriety, even though by their own admission they could not see enough to determine what they were witnessing. Assistant Registrar Joanna Francescut said the department wants to be transparent and encourages people to observe the process, but during a manual recount there are three groups in the same room trying to count at once, so it’s important that they not get distracted by people making noises and asking questions.
-Steve Gibson