Shasta County votes to spend millions manually counting ballots — and not all voters are happy
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to allocate millions of taxpayer dollars to pay for seven new employees who will assist in the county’s switch to manual ballot tallying. But the man behind the switch is paying a large price, too.
Conservative Supervisor Kevin Crye, who has perpetuated the claim that Dominion Voting Systems rigged the 2020 election in favor of President Joe Biden, was served recall papers at the board meeting.
In March, Shasta became the first county in California to pivot to a manual tally. The county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems ended in January, and after right-wing news outlets and commentators spread the falsehood that the machines were rigged, board members decided not to renew it; instead of replacing it with different machines, they opted for the controversial decision to count ballots by hand at great expense.
Chief fiscal officer Erin Bertain warned the board on Tuesday that the decision to hand count votes could cost the county at least $3 million through the 2024-2025 fiscal year, because the county will likely need to hire 1,500 ballot counters for the 2024 election. There are nearly 112,000 registered voters in Shasta County; in the last presidential election, 94,084 people turned out to vote.
The role of Mike Lindell
Mike Lindell, the My Pillow CEO and noted election denier, has thrown his support behind the Board and Crye specifically, and even offered to pay for any future legal fees if the county is sued for its decision to pivot to a manual tally. Dominion has sued Lindell for a whopping $1.3 billion in a defamation lawsuit. Lindell was recently also ordered to pay $5 million to a man who disproved his election fraud claims.
Crye’s association with Lindell, and his efforts to upend the voting system, “brought nationwide ridicule and embarrassment” to Shasta County, according to a group of residents who want to recall him.
“Your recall is necessary to preserve our limited resources and return stable government to Shasta County,” said Jeff Gorder, a spokesman for the committee to recall Crye, at the meeting on Tuesday.
“We cannot stand by for another 3½ years and watch you take the county down the path that you’ve taken it thus far,” he said. “Therefore, today, we’ve served you with a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition.”
The Sacramento Bee reached out to Supervisor Crye twice and has not heard back.
This story was originally published April 26, 2023 at 1:15 PM.