CVF in the News

Legal battle over tallying votes brews as Shasta County's November special election looms

By David Benda, Redding Record Searchlight, October 12, 2023

Excerpt:

Will Shasta County get special dispensation from a new California law that essentially bans tallying votes by hand except in the tiniest towns?

Patrick Jones, who chairs the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, insists that votes will be counted by hand and has threatened litigation if the state tries to stop the county by invoking the provisions of AB 969.

Jones has suggested that because the county developed a hand-count system that the Secretary of State reviewed before AB 969 became law, it should go ahead with its plan.

The new law bans the manual counting of ballots in regular elections with more than 1,000 registered voters and in special elections with more than 5,000 registered voters.

There is a special election scheduled for Nov. 7 in Shasta County. Ballots and voter information guides have been mailed to eligible voters.

What changes will California voters see in 2024 election?

By Sameea Kamal, CalMatters, September 20, 2023

Excerpt:

The 2024 primary election is just six months away, and, thanks to a series of measures over the last few years, the process will look a little different for voters.

For one, it’s the first presidential primary in which everyone can vote by mail. Because California’s top-two primary system — in which the two top vote-getters regardless of party move on to the November general election — doesn’t apply to presidential primaries, voters registered as Democrats or Republicans will receive a two-part ballot: the first includes the presidential candidates, and the second lists all the other races and measures.

How Would You Change California’s Referendum Process?

Hosted by Mina Kim, "Forum" show on KQED-FM, September 8, 2023

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering whether to sign a bill that would change some of the language you see on the referendum portion of your 2024 ballot. AB 421 would ask voters whether they want to “keep the law” or “overturn the law” and eliminate “Yes” or “No” choices. It would also require the top three sponsors of a referendum to appear on the Secretary of State’s voter information guide. But the final legislation is far more modest than its original version, which would have strengthened government oversight of signature collection, mandated more robust disclosures about the funders of referendum campaigns and required unpaid volunteers to obtain at least 10% of petition signatures. Those failed proposals, backed by labor groups, were favored by a majority of likely California voters, according to a June poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Election denial in California

By Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner, Politico, July 21, 2023

Excerpt:

Election doubts have taken root in a very real way in Shasta County, 200 miles north of Sacramento, where a vote this year by far-right supervisors has election officials on edge about how to conduct upcoming vote counts.

The county, which for years used Dominion voting systems to tabulate the ballots of its more than 100,000 registered voters, is now going to rely on humans to hand-count the tens of thousands of pieces of paper. It’s a move that was encouraged by pro-Trump conspiracy mongers, including MyPillow exec Mike Lindell. It could make the count harder to verify and end up costing the small, rural county millions of dollars over several years.

What happened to the big changes to California elections?

By Sameea Kamal, CAL Matters, July 12, 2023

Excerpt:

The campaign text messages have stopped, and your recycling bin is finally empty of mailers. But while it’s not election season anymore, California lawmakers are still tinkering with how voting happens.

The number of election-related bills introduced this session — close to 50 — is average, election officials said. But that number has been whittled down since January, and this week’s policy committee deadline may narrow the active proposals more.

Some bigger measures failed early on — including a constitutional amendment that would have changed the state superintendent of public instruction from an elected position to one appointed by the governor.

Kim Alexander Has Been Watchdogging Voting Technology for Decades. Here’s What She Thinks About What’s Happening in Shasta County.

By Annelise Pierce, Shasta Scout, May 19, 2023

Online at the Shasta Scout here

Excerpt:

The President of the California Voter Foundation has been closely involved with California’s voting systems for more than twenty years. She opposed California’s use of electronic ballots two decades ago, but supports the electronic ballot marking devices used now. She says people’s lack of trust in voting systems is important to address, but hand counting the ballots across Shasta County is not a smart way to build that trust.

In the late 90’s as technology exploded, Kim Alexander, like many, was interested in seeing voting go digital. So in 1999 when she was asked to serve on the California Secretary of State’s Internet Voting Task Force, Alexander went for it.

KQED's Scott Shafer reports on Shasta County election decisions

KQED-FM San Francisco March 29, 2023

KQED's Scott Shafer speaks with Natalia Navarro about the dramatic events unfolding in Shasta County regarding decisions by its board of supervisors on future plans for the county's election process, including hand counting voters' ballots, featuring comments from CVF president Kim Alexander. (KQED Audio Clip)

Mike Lindell backs rightwing California county as it ditches voting machines

By Dani Anguiano, The Guardian, March 4, 2023

Excerpt:

Proponents of the lie that the presidency was stolen from Donald Trump are eying an often overlooked region of California as they continue to promote falsehoods around the 2020 election: Shasta county, population 182,000.

Shasta, a conservative stronghold in the state’s far north, recently ended its contract with Dominion Voting Systems, the company that has been the subject of a conspiracy theory that it played a role in swinging the election for Biden. The move has left the semi-rural county without a voting system and no replacement ready to implement when its Dominion contract ends next week.

Fight over voting machines

By Sameea Kamal, Cal Matters, February 28, 2023

Excerpt:

Advocacy groups are urging Shasta County supervisors to reconsider their decision to end the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems, which provides equipment to mark and count ballots. The nonpartisan groups say the county’s termination without an alternative so close to the March 2024 presidential primary could have dire consequences on how the election is run and how accessible it is, and could further undermine voter confidence.

Dominion’s voting machines became a target of election deniers following the 2020 election. A review by the federal cybersecurity intelligence agency found there were no instances of the machines being exploited for election fraud purposes. The company is also suing Fox News for $1.6 billion, alleging defamation in the network’s airing of false fraud claims following the election.

What’s Next For Shasta County Voting? Hand Counting, Supervisor Jones Says.

By Annelise Pierce, Shasta Scout, February 26, 2023

Excerpt:

Shasta County Supervisor and Board Chair Patrick Jones has placed the County’s voting process on the agenda again for this Tuesday, February 28.

He hopes other Supervisors will like his idea to transition the County to an elections process that would involve hand counting the vote.

“We’re a small County and (hand counting) is definitely possible,” Jones told Shasta Scout by phone last week, “And it’s going to be a lot cheaper than what we were doing before.”

What the County has been doing is using machines to electronically tabulate votes. It’s how elections are conducted all across California, but it worries Jones, who believes electronic voting machines are susceptible to outside manipulation.

Search form

Pages