Excerpt:

The state said it will monitor Shasta County ahead of the November 7th special election. 

Shasta County Board of Supervisors Chairman Patrick Jones said he expected a letter like this, but Shasta County Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen said this letter is special. 

The Secretary of State Shirley Weber sent the letter to the Board of Supervisors and Registrar of Voters on October 27th.

Jones called this an overreach by the state against the county and that he is seeking out legal firms to take this matter to court. He said he is more focused on the primary election in March 2024, not the special election next week. 

"Disappointed obviously because no where in there did they say that you should be able to have the ability to hand county and electronically tabulate to double check... That clearly only electronic tabulation and nothing else... it seems unusual, even for the Secretary of State to make such comments," Jones said. 

"Certainly the supervisors have a job to do. It is not running elections for the county, that's my job and that's what I intend to do. It's the job I was elected to do by the voters for the fifth time last year," Allen said. 

Allen said the Secretary of State's office has every right to have observers during elections and to monitor them. But she said this letter is special, and pointed at the current situation in Shasta County and the controversy over how to count ballots. (Full Story)