REDDING, Calif. — Clint Curtis thinks something doesn’t smell right in Shasta County. Literally.
As the registrar of voters for this Northern California community, Curtis was both election administrator and candidate this summer. After he lost, he certified the results as “full, true and correct.”
He nonetheless harbored doubts. Some ballots smelled too inky, he said. Some seemed too heavy. Some felt too rough.
He stashed the ballots in a storage room, slapped a padlock on the door, ordered subordinates to destroy the keys and reported his suspicions to President Donald Trump’s administration.
In another place or era, Curtis’s concerns would be dismissed as kooky. But in Shasta County in 2026, they have been taken seriously enough to spur FBI agents to show up with bolt cutters so they could take a look.
#county
As the registrar of voters for this Northern California community, Curtis was both election administrator and candidate this summer. After he lost, he certified the results as “full, true and correct.”
He nonetheless harbored doubts. Some ballots smelled too inky, he said. Some seemed too heavy. Some felt too rough.
He stashed the ballots in a storage room, slapped a padlock on the door, ordered subordinates to destroy the keys and reported his suspicions to President Donald Trump’s administration.
In another place or era, Curtis’s concerns would be dismissed as kooky. But in Shasta County in 2026, they have been taken seriously enough to spur FBI agents to show up with bolt cutters so they could take a look.
#county
6 hours ago
