Shasta County ROV Clint Curtis Details Hostile Workplace, Alleged Sabotage, and Security Breaches on KCNR Radio
- Elisa Ballard
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
REDDING, Calif. — Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis and his wife, Jody, described a hostile work environment, deliberate sabotage efforts by longtime Elections Office staff, and a recent security breach at the county Elections Office during an appearance Sunday morning on the “Jefferson State of Mine” radio show on KCNR.
Curtis was appointed Shasta County Registrar of Voters on April 30, 2025, and assumed the office May 13, 2025, to complete the unexpired term that runs through early January 2027. He previously worked as a computer programmer, testified before Congress in 2004 about the potential for election machines to switch votes without leaving a detectable record, later became an attorney focused on election integrity, and was a member of the New York State Bar before relocating to Redding.
Former Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut was terminated by Curtis shortly after he took office. Francescut had been passed over for the top job in 2024 when Thomas Toller was selected, and again when Curtis was appointed. Francescut beat Curtis in the June 2, 2026, election and will take over as ROV in January.
According to Curtis, Elections Office employees reacted to the decision of the board to appoint Curtis by threatening to quit. They ultimately stayed, he said, with the intent of undermining his leadership. Jody Curtis told hosts Terry Rapoza and Janet Chandler that, before staff knew who she was, she overheard four employees — one man and three women — discussing plans to “set Clint Curtis up” to force him out.
Curtis, who wears hearing aids, said he has on occasion turned them up and overheard conversations from a distance. On one occasion, he reported hearing two managers and another employee in a manager’s office discussing plans to “make sure that the election failed” through sabotage. Curtis said he reported the conversation to the Board of Supervisors at the time.
“Every time I tried to get something done, it was like pushing a rock up a hill,” Curtis said. He described having to perform many tasks himself or recruit new personnel. He has issued written discipline to certain employees on multiple occasions, but said the action only increased their resistance. “They have never been nice people to me. They won’t even say hello usually.”
Curtis attributed much of the resistance to the fact that Elections Office workers are unionized and, in his view, prioritize union interests over those of Shasta County residents. Curtis said he heard rumors that the union was plotting to have the employees walk out at the beginning of the election. Curtis stated, "Interference with a federal election is a felony, so if the FBI comes in and they find that to be the case, then the union's going to have some problems." He recommended changing federal law to prohibit unions in election offices.
Curtis said he intends to hire former Mesa County, Colorado, Clerk Tina Peters as an assistant registrar or consultant after the current assistant, Brent Turner, leaves in September for health reasons.
Curtis has faced formal scrutiny from the Board of Supervisors. He was censured on a 3-1 vote over allegations that he threatened to call Human Resources and have an employee “pulled out by her hair” after she locked herself in her office and refused to train a new hire. Curtis has denied making the statement. Two investigations — one by the county’s Director of Support Services and another by an outside Oakland firm — concluded that a preponderance of the evidence supported the allegation and related claims. Newer employees in the office disputed the accounts, Curtis said, though many were not interviewed by investigators.
Curtis also described security problems inside the Elections Office. After installing a camera system, staff discovered that two employees had entered a locked ballot-balancing room without triggering the access log. Instead of using a badge, one employee used a credit card to slip the double-door lock while the second kept watch. Curtis said the incident “reeks of election interference” and that the employees should be terminated immediately. It is unclear who has the authority to fire those employees due to their union membership.
When he first took over the office, Curtis reviewed access logs for locked rooms containing ballots and found hundreds of entries that did not identify who had entered. The recent video, he said, explained how those entries occurred. He stated that the footage will be released in response to a public records request. Curtis has now secured the room containing the ballots with a padlock and destroyed the keys, so the only way to access those ballots will be with a warrant and a lock cutter.
County officials have pushed back. Deputy County Executive Officer Stewart Buettell issued a statement condemning Curtis for making public allegations of sabotage by employees.
Curtis said he has filed a complaint against County Counsel Joseph Larmour, who, in a meeting with another County Supervisor, Chris Kelstrom in attendance, urged Curtis to commit perjury in the Measure B court case filed by the State Attorney General against its implementation.
Amid the internal conflict, ongoing legal opposition by County Counsel to Measure B, and Curtis’s decision to involve the FBI regarding possible fraudulent ballots in the current and prior elections, the registrar continues to press election-integrity concerns. He has raised the possibility that Supervisors Matt Plummer and Allen Long may not have been legitimately elected and has urged the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to examine ballots for indicators of fraud, including mismatched paper stock, perfectly filled selection boxes, and potential vote flipping by tabulation machines. The FBI was in the Election Office last week conducting some interviews, but it is unclear what their next steps may be.
Curtis said the camera system he installed to film every ballot as it enters the machines is intended to deter or detect any attempt by equipment to alter results.
The full radio interview remains available through KCNR on their show archive page:
Shasta Unfiltered has submitted a public records request and will continue to follow developments at the Elections Office and any formal responses from the county or union.
