The Anatomy of Our Charter Amendment

For over 200 years our elections were run by the counties. Then, all of a sudden, around 2000, the state started taking over our elections, using machines with proprietary software, meaning that we could no longer actually see the ballots being counted. We just had to trust that the machines would get it right. And we all know how reliable that is. (If they were really secure and un-hackable, why does Amazon have 200 techs working around the clock to find the hacks that have been perpetrated on their computer systems.)

If a system offers the opportunity for fraud, it will be perpetrated.

The signature gathering phase of putting an amendment to Shasta County’s Charter on the ballot to make sure that our local elections are fair and transparent has been completed.

The US Constitution mandates that a person must be a US citizen to vote in Federal elections. California has passed a law forbidding election workers from asking for ID. As petitions we're being signed, we found that people were overwhelmingly in favor of requiring Voter ID. They could hardly wait to sign.

Chain of custody means that your ballot is never out of sight of the election workers. That requires a One Day, In Person, Same Day Vote and Same Day Results. No overnight stays in a box trafficked to a vote center in an insecure car then carried through a back alley. It requires that the ballots be within the eyesight of at least 2 election workers at all times. No exceptions. The only secure way for that to happen is for the ballots to stay in one place. From opening of the polls until the end of the count, the ballots must be in the physical precinct and never leave it. 

Hand Counting is the gold standard for accuracy. Otherwise, why would the 1% recount to check the accuracy of the machines—after the ballots have been tabulated—be by hand.

Perhaps the procedure most apt to be used to scam the election is the use of mail in ballots. Fraudulent ballots can be slipped in at any point in the process, from the point of mailing to the transports, to the election office itself. Ballots can be sent out to addresses that showed up at the last election as undeliverable and should never have been sent in the first place. When they are returned to the post office, then returned to the elections office, who knows what happens to them. This means that absentee ballots also must be limited. If you are able bodied and want your vote counted accurately, you need to walk into the polls. 

California law ensures that we can have meaningful observation of all components of the election process, including being able to actually see the ballots and what has been marked on them. (Once the ballots are out of their envelope or if one votes in person, the voter is no longer identifiable so, in effect, it is still a secret ballot.) We can make sure the results of the election match what we, the voters, said we want. Be an ongoing participant in the election; make your contribution to secure elections by going to your polling place and spending time observing the process. During the counting, you can stand behind the shoulders of the elections workers and actually see the ballot and check that the worker is reporting correctly.

Hand counting ballots is done by groups of four—the reporter (1) plus their cross-checker (2) sitting beside them, and across the table, the recorder, (3) plus their cross-checker (4) sitting beside them. We will have Same Day Results.

Of utmost importance are accurate, that is, Clean Voter Rolls. This means that we keep and maintain our own voter rolls with no unverified registrations from outside sources such as the DMV or non-profit organizations. We will have to accept them from the state but they will be verified before being placed on our voter rolls. This also means that Shasta County must maintain its own voter rolls without any interference from outside sources. Our voter roll system must be maintained on computers with no—none—absolutely not—connection to the internet. 

There will be no checking in on a pad where your signature is likely to be unreadable. We will have Paper Poll Books, just like in the old days for those of you who were old enough to vote before the machines came in.

To qualify this proposed Shasta County Charter Amendment for the ballot, the number of signatures must be equal to 10% of the ballots cast for governor in the last election. 6,800 valid signatures--signatures of voters registered in Shasta County--are needed. 10,000 signatures were turned in on September 16th, the deadline for turning signatures in.

Go to SaveShastaElections.org to find out where we are set up.