The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Dec. 5, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Just days before the Nov. 2023 election, the chair of the Shasta County, CA Board of Supervisors was threatening to defy a new California law, and hand count ballots instead of using an electronic ballot tabulator.  The county supervisors blinked.

Shasta County has over 111,000 registered voters, but as we’ve reported, county supervisors severed the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems.  The county’s registrar of voters estimated that a manual count would require almost 87,000 hours by over 1,200 election workers – at a cost of $1.65 Million dollars.  Hand counting is considered less accurate and more expensive by election experts.

CalMatters reports that Oct. 4th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that restricts hand counting to limited situations, and prohibits manual counts in elections larger than 1,000 registered voters, or 5,000 for special elections.  After County Board Chair Patrick Henry Jones reportedly suggested the county would not follow the new law, the California Secretary of State issued a warning making clear the state would take action if it didn’t.  The State sent monitors to ensure compliance, and the election was conducted with no issues using new tabulators at a cost of $950,000 dollars.

Other hand counting challenges by election deniers persisted in recent weeks in New Hampshire, Arizona, Georgia, and Florida.  

We have more on hand counting at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Shasta County – Analysis of Manual Tally Options for Shasta County
CalMatters – Why Shasta County is at center of California voting, again

Redding Record Searchlight – Shasta supervisors talk pay raises, Hart voting machines
Los Angeles Times – Shasta County ditched its Dominion voting machines. Now, residents are braced for turmoil on Nov. 7
The Guardian –  The California county where far-right officials tried to upend voting
Democracy Groups  – Requests for action in Shasta County in advance of the November 2023 and
March 2024 elections
CA Sec. of State – Letter, RE: Shasta County November 7, 2023, Election
Democracy Docket – California’s Shasta County Abandons Plan To Hand Count Election
Concord, NH  Monitor – NH Supreme Court considers case about ballot-counting machines draws a crowd
Democracy Docket – New Report Sheds Light on Hand Counting Ballots Ahead of 2024

Groups Taking Action:
ACLU Foundation of Northern CA, CA Common Cause,  CA Voter Foundation, Voting Rights Practice Group, Disability Rights CA, League of Women Voters of CA  

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ElectionDeniers #ProtectPollWorkers #CaliforniaPolitics

The post Shasta County Almost Hand-Counted Its Ballots in November. Instead, it Lost an Expensive Game of Election Denial Chicken with the State of California appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for May 25, 2023

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time) 

Today’s Links now below the script

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

We have updates on stories we’ve been following, including Arizona candidate Kari Lake’s election challenge, and Shasta County, California’s decision to hand count ballots.

First to Arizona, where Monday, the remaining claim in Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s lawsuit challenging her loss has finally been dismissed.  Lake, who disputed the 2020 Presidential election then her own 2022 election,  contended that signatures on mail-in ballots weren’t properly verified, a claim for which the judge said she had provided no credible evidence that violated the law.  Lake lost the election to Gov. Katie Hobbs by over 17,000 votes.  It’s unclear whether Lake will appeal.

Last week, a recall of Shasta County, California Commissioner Kevin Crye moved forward, with approval of the recall petition language.   KRCR reports that a citizens group now must collect over 4100 signatures to put the recall on the November ballot.  Crye is allied with MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell.

Crye and the conservative majority of the Shasta County Commission voted in March to replace existing Dominion Voting Systems tabulators with a system to hand-count ballots, at a cost of almost $1 Million dollars.   Shasta County has 111,000 registered voters, and hand counting is expected to take over a week and cost the county tens of thousands more in labor costs.   

We have more on these stories and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Courthouse News Service – Kari Lake loses election challenge
Democracy Docket – Arizona Judge Issues Final Blow to Kari Lake’s Six-Month Election Contest

NBC News – (2022) Arizona Governor’s Race Results
KRCR – A look inside Shasta County’s voting change; what state, local officials are saying
KRCR – Petition to recall Shasta County Supervisor Kevin Crye passes review “with flying colors”
Sacramento Bee – In Shasta County, moderate Republicans and union organizers push back on ‘far-right extremism’

Groups Taking Action:
Common Cause Arizona, States United Democracy Center, Recall Kevin Crye,  United Public Employees of California

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

Get ADM Radio Report email!  Sign up here!

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #ElectionDeniers

The post Election Denier Updates: AZ Gubernatorial Candidate Kari Lake Loses Election Challenge; Shasta County CA Commissioner Recall Moves Forward appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 13, 2023

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:

The Guardian –  Far-right county throws out voting machines – with nothing to replace them
Shasta County –  Voter Registration Statistics
Reading Record Searchlight – Shasta supervisors elected with Dominion machines opt to hand-count ballots in local races
Reading Record Searchlight – With more costs to come, Shasta County will spend $950,000 on new voting system
Hart InterCivic –  Company website
NPR – Judge rules Fox hosts’ claims about Dominion were false, says trial can proceed
Shasta Scout – Shasta County, Here’s What Voting Rights Advocates Want You To Know About Electronic Voting Machines


Groups Taking Action:

League of Women Voters CA,  Common Cause CA,  California Voters Foundation, Asian Law Foundation, ACLU of Northern California

Today’s Script:  (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

Showing they’d bought into President Trump’s debunked fraud allegations, the majority of Shasta County California’s board of supervisors terminated their contract for Dominion Voting Systems’ electronic ballot tabulation machines.  Then supervisors voted to hand count ballots – in a county with over 111,000 registered voters.  

In 2020, the northern California county gave the former president over 65% of the vote.   The Guardian reports that election deniers found allies on the county board of supervisors, and after contentious public meetings, voted to terminate the contract with Dominion.  According to the Reading Record Searchlight, one supervisor even communicated with My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell.  Lindell’s  group has been perpetuating the fraud conspiracies, and Lindell offered financial assistance for hand counting, and to subsidize any legal costs.

The county’s 20-year registrar of voters, Cathy Darling Allen, told supervisors that as many as 1,200 additional people would be needed to count the ballots by hand, at an estimated $1.6 million dollars.  Then last week, the county supervisors retained election equipment company Hart Intercivic to design an all-paper, hand-count infrastructure, at a cost of $950,000.   

The Record Searchlight quoted County Supervisor Mary Rickert, who voted against the move, as saying, “As a fiscal conservative, I’m highly offended by the fact that the majority of the board is willing to spend over $2 million dollars to replace the Dominion system”.    

We have links to articles and groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter and SHARE!  

Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

#Democracy  #DemocracyNews

The post Shasta County, CA Votes to Hand Count Ballots for its 111,000 Voters. Now They Have to Pay for It. appeared first on American Democracy Minute.