Curtis updates ballot probe on KCNR, cites new June tally discrepancy
September 27, 2026
Redding, CA
On Sunday morning’s “Jefferson State of Mine” on KCNR (1460 AM / 96.5 FM), hosts Terry Rapoza, Janet Chandler, and Win Carpenter interviewed Shasta County Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis and his wife, Jody Curtis, about the federal review of June 2, 2026, primary ballots and what Curtis described as additional problems in that election.
A federal grand jury subpoena issued Sept. 10 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California directed Curtis to appear in Sacramento on Sept. 24 and produce June primary materials, including voted, spoiled, canceled, and unused ballots, voter identification envelopes, and related vote records. County staff have said that request could have covered more than 55,000 ballots. The subpoena language, as described by county sources, sought “preservation, inspection, sampling, and production” of those materials.
Curtis told listeners he did not have to haul the boxes to Sacramento because federal agents came to the elections office at 1643 Market St. about 10 days ago. He said they entered the padlocked room where he had secured the June ballots — according to him, by cutting the lock with bolt cutters with help from a county employee — and inspected June 2026 ballots. He said they did not inspect November 2024 ballot boxes stored in the same room, contrary to media accounts. He said he was grateful that he did not have to transport the ballots. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento and DOJ have declined to confirm or discuss the subpoena.
Citizen affidavits — Curtis and supporters have cited about 11 — describe some 2026 ballots as looking or feeling different: paper texture, ink shade, odor, and what some said looked like pre-printed marks in the voting boxes. The week of Aug. 10, FBI agents interviewed citizens who had filed affidavits about June 2026 ballot processing. In an Aug. 25 Press Release, the Shasta County Administrative Office called Curtis’s fraud allegations “frivolous” and invited state and federal agencies to review both the claims and Curtis’s official conduct. Curtis certified the June 2 results on July 2. He lost the clerk/registrar race to former Assistant Registrar Joanna Francescut and remains in office until January.
2024 ballots and the Sept. 30 clock
Curtis said 2024 general-election ballots in the same room were stacked as many as 10 boxes high, in collapsing cartons, many unsealed and without chain-of-custody logs, and that they had been unsecured before he became registrar. California law generally requires voted ballots from a federal election to be retained 22 months; for the Nov. 5, 2024, general that window ran to early September 2026. Local reports earlier this month said the 2024 ballots had already passed the ordinary destruction date but remained locked in the room. Curtis said those ballots are set to be shredded Sept. 30 unless a court order stops it.
New claim: precinct vs. mail QR codes
On the radio, Curtis said a preliminary review of tabulation videos found another anomaly. Mail ballots, he said, carry a small QR code in the upper left; precinct and office-issued ballots do not. After a first count, he said, there appear to be about 3,000 more precinct/office ballots than were issued — roughly 6,000 precinct ballots counted versus about 3,000 given out. He said he is still checking the math and will have another group check on those numbers to make sure. He said two whistleblowers have come forward and have been referred to the FBI.
He said Runbeck, the vendor that prints the county’s ballots, uses one paper stock, and that a stack of blank ballot paper “found sitting back there that shouldn’t be there” should have been destroyed. He asked anyone with knowledge to come forward: “Be a witness — don’t go to jail.” He said he expects arrests.
Curtis said he is seeking a meeting with President Trump and that, under HAVA or through the Election Assistance Commission, the White House could stand up a team to investigate.
Records, videos, and County Counsel
He said Public Records Act requests covering the November 2024 election still have not been fulfilled, and that a preservation letter went to County Counsel Joseph Larmour, who has not discussed it with him. Shasta Unfiltered has previously reported on the unfulfilled records request #26-1766, filed September 4, asking for the county's December 3, 2024, office file: notices, observer sign-in sheets, ballot and batch records, machine reports of what was counted (including after 5 p.m.), custody and staff records, any video, procedures, and Secretary of State or district-attorney correspondence about that day.
The county, Curtis said, will redact election-office videos before any public release, blurring employee silhouettes, and is refusing to let him view the videos at all. After being appointed as ROV, Curtis installed additional cameras in the Election Office on Market Street to view ballots as they are being tabulated in the tabulating machines; some cameras predated him. He said there is no camera inside the ballot-processing room and described video of an employee bypassing a badge reader, using a card through locked double doors, and entering with a large backpack. That video was released under a PRA request by Shasta Unfiltered and is available to view on our YouTube channel.
Federal agents have not announced any findings because the investigation appears to be ongoing. County leadership continues to dispute Curtis’s fraud narrative while saying authorized agencies are welcome to look. Sunday’s broadcast added new numerical claims that, if the office publishes the QR-code count and issued-ballot logs, can be checked against the certified canvass.
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