During a special meeting by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors Thursday, the board approved a contract with a company to provide election software and equipment for printing and organizing manual ballots, and to provide one voting machine for each polling place in order to accommodate disabled voters. The board also approved an increase of more than $800,000 to the Elections Department to purchase the supplies. Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling-Allen says the hand count process is unprecedented and they’ll need additional budget amendments at every step of the way. The money will have to come from the general fund.
During Thursday’s board meeting, Shasta County Supervisor Mary Rickert pressed Supervisor Kevin Crye about his claims at a previous meeting that “My Pillow” founder Mike Lindell had offered to help with costs of a hand tally election. Crye acknowledged that no such private funding exists in any guaranteed form, either to help with the costs of a hand count or to help alleviate the costs of litigation.