Shasta County Supervisor Patrick Jones and his allies are complaining after the Elections Department shredded ballots last week that had been held since the 2022 election. Ballots and related materials are required to be retained for 22 months after each election, and then state law requires that they be destroyed. This is nothing new, as the board tried in 2022 to force the Elections Department to retain ballots from 2020. At last week’s Supervisors Meeting Jones, Kevin Crye and Chris Kelstrom voted to request that some of the 2022 materials be retained while County Counsel researched the issue. However, no research was necessary as the law is very clear on the matter and new County Counsel Patrick Larmour advised Assistant Registrar Joanna Francescut that the shredding was necessary as soon as possible in accordance with the law. The deadline was actually two days prior to the meeting, and the shredding was done the morning after the meeting, much to the dismay of Jones. He had hoped that electronic data could be retained for review but even if it was legally possible, there’s no way it could have been accessed without software specific to the Dominion Voting System that had been rejected by the board last year. Beyond any of those practical issues, the board does not even have authority to handle election materials, as that jurisdiction lies solely with Registrar Cathy Darling-Allen and her staff. Next month Darling-Allen is planning to retire early due to health concerns, and the Board of Supervisors will have the power to appoint a replacement for the remainder of her term. Although Francescut seems to be the obvious choice, there are doubts about whether the board majority will choose her because of their continued unfounded criticism of the department.
-Steve Gibson