He's An Election Skeptic. And He's In Charge Of Elections In Shasta County

REDDING — At a Board of Supervisors gathering successful agrarian Shasta County past month, Clint Curtis dropped a bombshell: A sheriff measurement down successful Riverside was going to confiscate each nan ballots from a caller election.

Curtis, nan region registrar of voters, was nan first to denote nan planned ballot seizure. Even nan sheriff himself, Chad Bianco, had not publically revealed his intentions.

Later, arsenic Bianco’s move grabbed headlines — he is simply a leading Republican candidate for politician — Curtis’ behind-the-scenes maneuvering remained mostly unknown. The registrar had worked pinch nan Riverside County citizens group whose fraud allegations had sparked Bianco’s investigation, moreover walking 600 miles southbound to speak connected their behalf.

Shasta County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis poses past period successful nan caller predetermination study room astatine nan elections agency successful Redding.

In his short clip successful Shasta County, Curtis, whose claims astir rigged voting machines agelong backmost to nan early 2000s, has solidified his position arsenic a torchbearer of nan predetermination denialism movement, vowing to return his connection astir untrustworthy machines and imaginable fraud crossed California and beyond.

Critics present opportunity he has steadily disenfranchised voters. He has eliminated 9 of nan immense county’s 13 ballot driblet boxes, telling The Times he did not spot ballots successful nan hands of “little aged ladies moving each over” to cod them. And he has advocated for a local ballot initiative that would limit elections to 1 day, destruct astir voting by message and require elector ID arsenic good arsenic a manus count of ballots.

Curtis besides has accused his predecessors successful nan registrar’s office, without evidence, of predetermination fraud and has called for national authorities to ambush nan agency he now runs.

“Do I deliberation ballots were stuffed? Yes. Have I contacted nan DOJ? Yes,” Curtis said astatine nan Feb. 24 Shasta County supervisors’ gathering conscionable earlier announcing Bianco’s planned ballot seizure.

Curtis, a 67-year-old attorney, was appointed by nan Shasta County supervisors past April. He lived successful Florida then, had nary erstwhile ties to nan area and had ne'er tally an election.

He sewage nan occupation based mostly connected 2 stated qualifications: He wanted to hand-count votes. And he had worked pinch Mike Lindell, nan MyPillow main executive and pro-Trump conspiracy theorist.

In his nationalist occupation interview, Curtis promised to grill section elections staffers to “find retired what they know.”

Now Curtis is moving for predetermination himself, trying to support his occupation successful this Northern California region wherever a mostly of nan supervisors were truthful swept up successful President Trump’s discredited predetermination fraud claims that they ditched their Dominion voting machines successful 2023 and opted to hand-count ballots (quickly prompting a caller state law that banned them from doing so).

Curtis says he is moving to make elections much transparent by questioning nan position quo and hanging cameras everyplace to seizure predetermination workers’ each move.

“Republicans emotion me,” Curtis told The Times. “The Democrats are beautiful good. And past I person these crazy socialist group that conscionable dislike me.”

Beliefs aside, Curtis has quickly go a colorful section character.

He took a dishonesty detector trial to attest that he didn’t rig nan November election. He chose arsenic his number 2 a heavy metallic guitarist from San Francisco — shape sanction “Turmoil” — who is simply a progressive Democrat.

And past September, surveillance cameras captured him pushing an ancient metallic safe done nan Shasta County elections agency connected a Saturday while his woman assisted pinch a pulling harness. Curtis wore bluish jeans — and nary shirt.

He said he moved nan safe, which contained likelihood and ends, connected a basking time to make much room for predetermination observers.

Curtis first gained nationalist attraction for predetermination skepticism successful December 2004, in testimony earlier Congress.

He had been moving arsenic a machine programmer successful Florida and was brought successful arsenic an master witnesser by Democrats connected nan House Judiciary Committee, who were reeling complete President George W. Bush’s conclusion of John Kerry a fewer weeks earlier and furious astir an error pinch an physics voting instrumentality that gave Bush other votes successful Ohio.

Curtis claimed that he had written “a prototype” of package that would let cheaters to change votes utilizing “invisible buttons” connected touch-screen balloting machines. His claims were mostly dismissed. But he continues to tout his legislature testimony to formed himself arsenic an master connected predetermination malfeasance.

A female passes by a “Greetings From Redding” mural connected Feb. 25.

After testifying, he unsuccessfully ran for agency aggregate times successful Florida. He refused to concede aft 1 loss, alleging nan machines were rigged.

In Shasta County, he saw a chance for redemption.

During nan COVID-19 pandemic, nan Board of Supervisors gained a hard-right mostly supported by anti-vaxxers, secessionists, members of a section militia and pro-Trump predetermination deniers.

In 2022, personification hung a way camera — nan benignant hunters usage to way wildlife — down nan elections agency to show nan staff. Some observers yelled astatine staffers and sewage successful nan look of Cathy Darling Allen, nan longtime registrar, who installed a 7-foot metallic obstruction to support them astatine bay.

Joanna Francescut, who worked successful nan elections agency for 17 years, is moving to beryllium region registrar.

Darling Allen fought pinch nan supervisors arsenic they pushed to hand-count votes, a process she based on would beryllium slow, costly and prone to error. She retired successful 2024, citing wellness reasons.

Her successor resigned aft little than a year. The supervisors appointed Curtis successful a 3-2 vote, passing complete Joanna Francescut, who had worked successful nan elections agency since 2008 and was Darling Allen’s number two.

Days later, Curtis fired Francescut. She is now moving against him successful nan June 2 election.

David Becker, executive head of nan Center for Election Innovation & Research and a erstwhile elder proceedings lawyer overseeing voting enforcement for nan U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, called Curtis a “nationally known conspiracy theorist.”

“I can’t ideate bringing successful personification who is neither an predetermination administrator nor a Californian for a occupation for illustration that and fundamentally chasing retired knowledgeable predetermination officials whose activity had withstood scrutiny for decades,” Becker said. “The voters of Shasta County, unfortunately, are paying nan price.”

Curtis has accused Francescut and different elections staffers of stuffing ballots to sabotage blimpish Republicans.

“I want to laughter because it’s that ridiculous,” Francescut, 43, said of nan allegations.

“People that activity successful this field, they’re doing this activity because they attraction astir elections,” she said. “They want nan organization to beryllium better. They want what some sides want — transparent and meticulous elections.”

During her 17-year tenure, nan elections agency sewage small nationalist attention. But “once 2020 hit, group went from wholly trusting america to, nan time aft predetermination day, calling and yelling astatine our unit truthful overmuch that we couldn’t get nan activity done to count ballots,” she said.

Curtis was a favourite of then-board president Kevin Crye, a hard-right supervisor who enlisted Lindell to support nan county’s crusade against Dominion. Crye had survived a 2024 callback effort by conscionable 50 votes.

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1. Carl Bott, co-owner of KCNR 96.5 FM, interviews Joanna Francescut connected Feb. 25, 2026, successful Redding, Calif. 2. Joanna Francescut’s run manager, Mary Williams, wears an orangish fastener that sounds “Vote for Jo for County Clerk” arsenic Francescut waits successful nan offices of talk power position KCNR.

Citing that adjacent margin, Curtis said he believed caller elections were rigged because Republicans were not winning by ample capable margins successful a region wherever registered Republicans greatly outnumber Democrats.

In a letter to nan U.S. Justice Department, Curtis said he had learned of lax information and imaginable ballot stuffing successful 2024, nan twelvemonth of the attempted recall against Crye. Curtis sent a transcript of nan missive to Trump and requested a national investigation because “the demolition of these ballots is nearing.”

In 2019 and 2024, a Shasta County expansive assemblage investigated section predetermination procedures and recovered nary wrongdoing.

“How does it make maine feel? Really angry,” Darling Allen, who is advising Francescut’s campaign, said of Curtis’ allegations. “It calls into mobility nan integrity and characteristic of each azygous personification who worked successful nan elections department.”

To switch Francescut, Curtis hired Brent Turner, nan guitarist from San Francisco. He is simply a longtime election betterment activist who has pushed for nonproprietary open-source voting systems pinch package codification that tin beryllium examined by anyone.

Turner described their business as: “Republican and Democrat squad up to conflict outdated package for elections. Oh, my!”

“We person to person nan big speech successful nan United States that if nan systems are loose capable to let group — successful this case, we’re talking astir moreover group soul to nan strategy — to cheat, they mightiness cheat,” Turner said.

Last October, Secretary of State Shirley Weber wrote to Curtis, asking him to item planned changes to voting procedures. He responded pinch a 15-page letter.

Election observers, he wrote, were “treated for illustration invaders ... corralled down spiked fences.” And drivers who picked up ballots from driblet boxes sometimes near them successful their vehicles. Under his watch, he wrote, “no detours aliases moreover bath breaks are allowed.”

A female exits nan Cottonwood Post Office successful Shasta County.

Curtis told Weber that personification had carved decease threats connected his conveyance and near “antifa” business cards connected his windshield wipers.

Weber’s communications squad said successful an email that her agency “continues to show caller predetermination processes projected by Shasta (or immoderate county) County to guarantee they do not break authorities law.”

In his missive to Weber, Curtis promised to return a dishonesty detector trial aft each election. Answering pre-written questions he had submitted, Curtis said successful a January polygraph trial that he did not alteration nan results of nan November predetermination and believed a predecessor had rigged erstwhile contests, according to a summary obtained by The Times.

The examiner wrote that he “was apt telling nan truth.”

Inside nan elections office, Curtis created a ample room, decked retired pinch American flags, for citizens to observe nan vote-counting process.

More than a twelve ample TV monitors show close-up video, besides streamed online, of predetermination workers’ hands inserting ballots into machines. On June 2, those workers will beryllium beneath iPhones hung overhead to grounds them while observers are positioned connected barstools a fewer inches down them.

The caller nationalist study room astatine nan Shasta County elections agency is dressed up pinch American flags.

Curtis has been traveling crossed California to tout his methods. He told The Times he has spoken astir his video setup successful Kern and San Joaquin counties and discussed it pinch candidates for authorities office.

And he advised nan Riverside County citizens group that claimed to person recovered an overcount of 45,896 ballots successful nan November predetermination for Proposition 50, which redrew nan state’s legislature districts to favour Democrats.

Art Tinoco, nan Riverside County registrar of voters, has refuted that number — saying it was based connected a misunderstanding of earthy information that had not been afloat processed.

After Bianco past week announced that his agency had seized much than 650,000 ballots, Curtis appeared connected nan societal media broadcast of a right-wing predetermination integrity advocator who called him “the stealth down nan scenes successful making that happen.”

Curtis smiled and repeated what he has been espousing since nan early 2000s: “You can’t really spot a computer.”