In this 2021 file photo, a Georgia poll worker passes a ballot scanner provided by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion, which has been the subject of conspiracy theories since the 2020 election, was recently abandoned by officials in Shasta County, California.
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Ben Gray/AP
In this 2021 file photo, a Georgia poll worker passes a ballot scanner provided by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion, which has been the subject of conspiracy theories since the 2020 election, was recently abandoned by officials in Shasta County, California.
Ben Gray/AP
A district in Northern California has terminated its contract with Dominion Voting Systems, a company facing a spate of voter fraud conspiracy theories.
The controversial decision has now left the county without an opportunity to hold elections.
The county is Shasta County, which is small and rural and occupies the northernmost end of the Sacramento Valley. This deep red part of a blue state has been embroiled in unproven allegations of cheating since the 2020 election.
The county’s board of directors has become more conservative in recent years, and board chairman Patrick Jones led the charge to fire Dominion, which happened by a 3-2 overseer vote in late January.
Jones is extremely critical of any type of electronic voting machine.
“When people say we have free and fair elections without knowing all the things that have happened and the things that we know, that’s just not true,” he said at a meeting in late February.
Jones has directed his anger at Dominion, repeating the attacks the company has faced from right-wing conspiracy theorists since the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump and his supporters have repeatedly – and falsely – claimed that Dominion machines were used to switch votes from Trump to Joe Biden.
And Dominion has filed a number of lawsuits for defamation, including a high-profile case against Fox News that is currently in court.
Referring to the Shasta County decision, a Dominion spokesman told NPR in a statement, “This is another example of how lying about Dominion has damaged our business.”
Considering hand counting — and a Mike Lindell cameo
Shasta County is now exploring a system of hand counting ballots.
Mary Rickert, one of the two executives who voted against changing the electoral system, called it “a bad financial decision for us to end our contract with Dominion.”
Rickert, who said she’s “very risk-averse,” worried about “possibly opening us up to Shasta County for litigation,” referring to federal laws ensuring disabled voters can vote independently, which is kind of mechanical or electronic voting machine required.
Chief Executive Jones believes removing all machines from elections will boost confidence in results – although research has found manually counting ballots is more expensive, time-consuming and inaccurate than using a machine.
“People make mistakes,” said California Assistant Secretary of State Susan Lapsley, who traveled to Shasta County to advise the board. “It’s tough, it’s tough sitting here during the board meeting, but can you imagine sitting around a table for eight hours and doing that [hand-counting ballots]? It’s tough and it’s a lot of hard work.”
One supervisor who coordinated with Jones, Kevin Crye, believes he has found a solution to potential accessibility lawsuits. He said he solicited outside funding from prominent election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, himself the target of a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion.
“I don’t intend to waste money on anything, especially this one,” Crye said. “So I’ve secured the money and I’ll be working to uphold my decision. Because we will not be using any Shasta County money to go in that direction.”
Crye said Lindell will put money into an escrow account to pay for any legal fees the county may incur from lawsuits.
This offer was heavily criticized by the two bosses who did not support the changes, including Tim Garman.
“They’re trying to save the county money by putting it up for sale,” Garman told Crye.
It’s unclear what comes next
Shasta County is the first in the state to get rid of Dominion.
Kern County in Southern California also considered dropping Dominion, but in late February, after hours of debate, local officials took the opposite tack, voting 3-2 to extend their contract with the company.
The next scheduled election in Shasta County is the presidential primary in March next year. But district secretary Cathy Darling Allen said some municipalities plan to hold their own elections later this year.
If the county wants to try counting ballots by hand, it would first have to get approval from the secretary of state and come up with a proposal for a pilot ballot program at least nine months before the next election.
Until then, Shasta County has no way of holding elections without choosing another provider. That has left thousands of county residents even more confused about the credibility of his elections.