On March 13, 2023, and at the direction of the Board of Supervisors, Chairman Jones, Supervisor Crye (Supervisors), and County staff from the County Administrative Office, County Counsel, and the Clerk and Elections department (Staff), met with manual process proponent experts to discuss the feasibility of a hand count/manual tally of elections in Shasta County.
During a subsequent meeting on March 15, 2023, representatives from the California Secretary of State's office met with Supervisors and Staff to further discuss options regarding a hand count process or alternative system for manually tallying elections in Shasta County. In addition, the Secretary of State's office further described what would be necessary for either a new certified electronic system or what procedures, processes, and systems would be needed prior to a full hand count.
Following the aforementioned meetings, Supervisors and Staff met again on March 20, 2023, to consider a new Administrative Policy, which would create a Manual Tally Selection Commission, composed of one appointed Commissioner from each member of the Board of Supervisors.
Commissioners would be appointed by members of the Board of Supervisors in accordance with the terms of the policy. The Commissioners would hold a Publicly Noticed Meeting, in accordance with the Brown Act (Government Code 54950, et seq.), no later than 5 days after the election and prior to the declaration of election results by a governing body to consider selecting one eligible contest for a manual tally. Prior to the Commissions’ meeting, one contest would be selected at random by the Registrar of Voters for a manual tally and the contest selected would be provided to the Commission which could select an additional eligible contest for a manual tally. Nothing in the policy obligates the Commission to select an additional race.