Shasta County election officials say observers tried to 'intimidate' them during vote count

Shasta County elections officials said discussions with representatives of anti-establishment candidates became "contentious" and at least one worker said she felt "intimidated" by them. 

Joanna Francescut, assistant county clerk and registrar of voters, said some of the people who showed up Tuesday night were trying to intimidate election officials by telling them to seal off a room where the ballots are kept.

Francescut said the office's employees are following the law.

At one point, several people gathered around County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen and confronted her.

Darling Allen said later she spent more than four hours talking to observers in discussions that she said were at times "contentious."

"I've been doing this job the same way for 18 years, and all of a sudden things are different. And I am a little bit flummoxed by it. But that's OK. What I'm interested in is trying to figure out how to come to a compromise that works for everybody," she said.

"But at the end of the day, I am the registrar. I am the expert at doing this, and we're doing it. We are complying with all laws and other regulations," Darling Allen said.

Elections officials also found a trail camera, such as a hunter might use to spot game, set up in the alley behind the election’s office. They do not know who put the camera there.

By 12:35 a.m. the trail camera had been removed. At that hour, the elections department was also closed up and all ballots had been delivered from precincts from throughout the county.

Among those present earlier in the evening at the downtown office were activist Carlos Zapata and Shon Northam, a North State criminal defense lawyer who has been an outspoken critic of Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett. Late results showed Bridgett winning re-election.

Live results: Shasta County vote totals in 2022 primary

Zapata is one of the founders of the Red, White and Blueprint group that supported recall efforts against former Supervisor Leonard Moty. 

DA candidate Erik Jensen has said some of his supporters have overlapping affiliations with those who sponsored the supervisor's recall, including the Red, White and Blueprint group.

Many of the observers at the elections officer were supporters of a slate of candidates that billed themselves as "anti-establishment."

Darling Allen said the number of observers Tuesday night was unprecedented.

"I haven't had an election night crowd like that. I don't know if we've ever had a crowd with as many people that were here yesterday, ever," she said on Wednesday.

Heather Jensen, wife of district attorney candidate Jensen, spoke to Darling Allen on Tuesday night. But Jensen said she was not trying to confront or intimidate Darling Allen or anyone on her staff.

Heather Jensen said she came to the elections office to ask Darling Allen if she could tape up the elections office room, which she said would follow the same procedures used during a supervisor recall in February.

"I thought I had a good discussion with her," Jensen said. 

Darling Allen said she would not put up security tape to seal off the room where ballots are kept.

"So the seals are used for a variety of different things. And they want us to seal the building shut. And I'm not going to do that. We have staff coming in. No one's going to touch any of the ballots, and no one's going to do any observable activities that come to the elections (office) tomorrow until after our staff meeting," she said.

Northam, who supported Jensen in the DA race, also said the intent of the observers was not to intimidate anyone, but he came to observe to understand how the vote tallying process worked.

He said he was skeptical of the early results that came in Tuesday night because he observed different results later in the evening.

"So the initial release of votes, obviously 100% I do not believe that," he said. "Because what I've just witnessed firsthand doesn't corroborate or correlate or even validate those early numbers."

Early results showed Bridgett with a wide lead over Erik Jensen, but later in the evening Northam said he watched votes being counted that showed Jensen tallying a large number of votes.

Record Searchlight reporter Michele Chandler contributed to this story.

Damon Arthur is the Record Searchlight’s resources and environment reporter. He is part of a team of journalists who investigate wrongdoing and find the unheard voices to tell the stories of the North State. He welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834 by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!