Shasta County's Top Election Official Looks To Ease Voter's Concerns

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, October 30, 2024…

• California election officials are bracing for Election Day amidst concerns about distrust. Officials have been investing in outreach and education. One county that’s dealt with a lot of distrust is Shasta County in far northern California. The county’s longtime registrar of voters, Cathy Darling Allen, retired in May this summer. The board appointed a new registrar to replace her.
• Proposition 35 is one of ten statewide ballot measures that Californians will be voting on this election. It would put new guidelines around Medi-Cal spending to help secure better pay for doctors who serve low-income Californians.
• Nearly 5 million Californians have voted in the general election  so far, according to the state secretary of state’s latest snapshot.

Election Questions Remain In Shasta County 

Cathy Darling Allen, the longtime county clerk/registrar of voters in Shasta County, retired in May. The county has been one of the most contentious when it comes to election results. Last year, three members of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted to cancel the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems. That’s the company that was at the center of a lot of the conspiracy theories around the 2020 election. And they voted to hand count ballots instead, although that decision was overridden by a new law in Sacramento.   

The board appointed a new registrar to replace Darling Allen.  Thomas Toller is a former Shasta County Deputy District Attorney and had no experience with elections.  He presented himself to the board as someone who would stick up for Shasta County and any potential future conflict with the state of California over how the county runs its elections. He initially said if it were legal, he would consider hand-counting ballots over machines, and that he’s not a big fan of voting machines. 

But since taking office, some of his perspective has changed. When it comes to hand-counting, Toller now says that he thinks it’s too costly and too slow. He says that while any issues that would come up in an election, he might in the past think that something nefarious was going on. Now, he thinks that those were likely the kind of common mistakes that happen due to human error in a high stress environment. “I’m constantly sent emails from people suggesting that I need to stop using this technology or I need to start implementing this other procedure. And my universal response has been I don’t see any evidence of this, but if you can give me credible evidence that it’s happening here in Shasta County, I will definitely look into it,” Toller said. “And if there’s a problem, I will resolve it.”

Toller says that he now spends a lot of time stressing that the voting machines Shasta uses do not connect to the Internet and coming up with different messaging that he hopes will allay people’s fears and concerns.

Proposition 35 Would Put New Guidelines On Medi-Cal Spending

Proposition 35 on the November ballot would require the state to use money from a tax on health insurance plans to boost payments to doctors who serve Medi-Cal patients. 

Over the last few years, the state has expanded Medi-Cal to cover more Californians than ever, now around 14 million people. But the amount that doctors get paid to treat Medi-Cal patients has not kept up with inflation. As a result, many providers won’t treat them, according to the California Health Care Foundation. 

Supporters say Prop 35 will encourage doctors to serve more low-income patients because they’d be getting paid more for their services. Opponents worry putting restrictions on how the state spends this money could mean cuts to other Medi-Cal programs.

Millions Of Californians Have Already Cast Their Ballot

Nearly 5 million Californians have voted in the general election so far, according to the state secretary of state’s latest snapshot. That’s a little bit less than a quarter of the state’s registered voters.

Sierra, Plumas, and Alpine Counties have the highest percentage of returned ballots, but all three have low numbers of registered voters relative to other counties.

All mail in ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, November 5, to be counted.