Election workers quit in Shasta as self-appointed observers roam office [View all]

On Wednesday, as the workers of the Shasta County Registrar of Voters office busily sifted through the ballots that have already been cast, they had company.

A group of nine people, holding clipboards and taking notes, stood in a hallway peering through wired glass as workers took ballots out of envelopes. Across the hallway another group of observers hovered over computer screens, watching a live video feed of workers in a room verifying signatures. These self-appointed election observers spent their day looking for proof of tomfoolery.

One woman wasn’t satisfied with watching the election administration through the buttressed window. She wanted to be in the room while they sifted through ballots.

“It isn’t transparent,” said a woman named Elizabeth who wouldn’t give her last name. “To be transparent we have to be able to hear them.”

So far, while these observers don’t appear to have unearthed any evidence of fraud, they are having an impact. The assistant clerk put up a rope to stop the observers from following workers into their breakroom to ask questions. They’ve also had to put locks on the offices, after observers tried to open doors and see what was happening inside each office. This comes as election officials across the nation received death threats following the 2020 and 2022 elections, fomented by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen.


https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/11/shasta-county-election-workers/