Shasta County Registrar of Voters is Ready with a Plan to Implement Measure B if Needed

By Clint Curtis, Shasta County ROV and Clerk

Here is the plan for implementing Measure B, should Shasta County need to do so. We will be ready regardless of how they want the election performed. It will stay the same as last time if Measure B is not required to be implanted. If it is, then here is the plan so far. We will begin collecting the necessary resources while Measure B works itself through the courts.

This is what I submitted to the CAO (County Administrative Office) with a few additions. I put some numbers together based on a registered voter count of 116,000 and a turnout of 70% or less. In reality, we are currently running at less than 50%, but it is unknown whether in-person voting will increase or decrease participation.

The way the precinct system is set up, it would need to be modified to make everything cost-effective. We will need to adjust our precinct size to be roughly 1,000 registered voters per precinct. That means we will need to expand our number of precincts from 63 to 116. Several of these could be combined at existing locations. The only real cost is for additional ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) machines. Each precinct will then be staffed with the 3 poll workers required by code. They will also have 8 poll workers per precinct who can perform the count and fill in should the poll become busy. Right now, we have 316 poll workers already on board and would need 348. We also have 100 poll closers already on staff. That allows us to come at the staffing issue two different ways. The additional poll workers who will do the counting will number 928. The cost of the extra poll workers would be a recurring $121,984. The additional cost for staffing would actually be a little lower because we would not need the current staff to do much processing, and they could be assigned to polling locations to help with the count. Since the polling locations are self-contained, we can also eliminate most rover positions, saving approximately $10,000 per election.

To be prepared for a Measure B rollout, the office will begin outreach to recruit additional poll workers and polling locations. Since poll workers are only paid when they are used, there would be no additional cost to the county or additional burden on personnel. Anyone who would like to become a poll worker should call 530-515-3142.

If a business is interested in becoming a poll location, they should call 530-515-3142. It is a great way not only to give back to the community but also to bring in citizens who may never have had the opportunity to visit your location before.

To be ADA-compliant, we would also need to purchase 53 extra “Touch Writers” for the additional polling places. That would be a one-time cost of $265,000. But that purchase can be made at the end of September or early October. We would not need to spend any money prior to a final determination on Measure B.

The only thing they would need to do at the Market/Court Street locations is to do a signature check on absentee ballots and lock them in their appropriate cage. The figure for absentee ballots is predicted to be 2% based on the past history of Shasta County when the absentee ballot system was used. That would make the number to process 1600 ballots.

The reduction in workload will likely eliminate the need for some positions in the department. Positions specializing in machine technologies would no longer be needed. I would propose no such reduction until data from several actual elections have been gathered. The existing staff may be used to monitor the 116 polling places that will need to be fully operational for voting day.

Obviously, some roles would be eliminated immediately, such as the call center ($3,432) and the mail-in ballot retrievers and processors (6 x 17 x 8 x 40 = $32,640). The Agilis machine would no longer be necessary ($30,000), nor would the workers who sort, check, and prepare the ballots to be processed by the tabulator (24 x 17 x 8 x 10 = $32,640).

The tabulation system would no longer be necessary ($237,000 x .5 = $118,500), and the number of ballots printed would be greatly reduced (81,200 instead of 130,000) ($75,000 less printing), along with the postage ($190,240 in postage 116,000 x .82 x 2 ) (The price goes to .82 on July 12, 2026). There would be no need for poll pads, which could result in savings of $20,000 to $40,000.

Since counting is conducted concurrently with voting, the full count should be completed within 1 to 2 hours after poll closing. It would be entirely possible for Shasta to have a final tally of the election by 10:30 pm on election night. I spoke with Linda Rantz, the developer of the proposed system, and she states that the throughput is 70 four-page ballots per hour with the two teams we are assigning. Some polling places may have fewer votes than others or may cycle differently. Those that get busy at the end of the night can be supplemented by those that complete simultaneously with the poll closing.

Implementing the hand-counting system would eliminate the need for both buildings. Court Street could be moved to Market Street or Vice versa. In-person voter registration could be handled at the Clerk’s desk. We would also no longer require an observation lounge or an early voting site. ($180,000 savings if Market is abandoned.)

This implementation will result in recurring savings of $550,508. ($672,492 minus $121,984) based on one election per year. It also has a one-time fee of $265,000. That will mean that the cost of the Measure B election will be a little more than half the present cost of an election in Shasta County.

It is not clear how we would implement the separation of the voter rolls, and we need a little more definition. That is something that would probably be better defined as the case moves through the courts.