It's Thursday. Election officials in Shasta County, one of California's most intense election-denial hot spots, are increasingly nervous as November nears. Plus, California is decriminalizing jaywalking. |
 | | Cathy Darling Allen, the Shasta County clerk and registrar of voters, in her Redding office.Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times |
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The countdown to a November vote usually feels momentous. This year, apprehension reigns. |
Since the violent aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, secretaries of state, county clerks and poll workers have been besieged with intimidating threats and bogus claims of misconduct. A federal task force established last year to deal with election threats has fielded more than 1,000 reports and prosecuted about a half-dozen cases. California, Vermont, Oregon and other states have passed laws to protect election workers. |
California election officials have generally not had to endure the frightening tactics seen in swing states such as Colorado, where the top election official was threatened last summer on her personal Instagram page, or Arizona, where the Maricopa County recorder received a death threat on his cellphone. |
But officials here are worried just the same. |
Shasta County, in the state's rural far north, has been among California's most intense election-denial hot spots since former President Donald J. Trump spread the lie that voter fraud cost him the White House. The county voted 2 to 1 for Trump in the 2020 election. Electoral distrust has been nurtured by far-right activists and a pro-Trump majority on the Board of Supervisors who took control from mainstream Republicans early this year. |
 | | The local newspaper and the state elections code in the office of Cathy Darling Allen, the Shasta County clerk and registrar of voters.Mike Kai Chen for The New York Times |
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"Most places are pretty complacent and we were, too," Woody Clendenen, a leader in a longstanding local militia, told me this summer in his Cottonwood barbershop as he described his frustrations with Covid restrictions. "But then people woke up. And when they did, they realized, man, we just can't leave the government to run itself." |
Shasta County's clerk, Cathy Darling Allen, has been managing elections in the eye of the local storm since 2004. She said she had been yelled at, stalked and had endured baseless accusations of treason. In June, however, she also was handily re-elected over an opponent who campaigned against the use of Dominion voting machines, which Trump blamed in part for his loss in 2020. |
We spoke recently as she and her staff prepared for November. Here's our conversation, lightly edited. |
You've been overseeing elections for 18 years in Shasta County. Are you surprised at the rancor? |
This is not the Shasta County I know. The Shasta County I know is friendly and welcoming. It's a place where people come together and help their neighbors. When we have a wildfire, people here donate tens of thousands of dollars to help each other. One gentleman here in town has spent probably 10 years just cleaning up creeks. Another one has a group called United Shasta where, if you say, "Oh, my uncle needs a wheelchair ramp," for example, he'll make sure that ramp gets built. |
A very small but vocal number of people are hearing inaccurate things at the national level. They absolutely believe what they espouse, but they're unfortunately misguided and incorrect, especially about the election integrity in our community. Certainly the pandemic, and vaccine mandates and shutdowns from Covid brought together and galvanized some folks who previously hadn't been working together. Some also backed a slate of candidates who lost in June. That's also a significant part of it. |
That's a great question. Some of them have a list — voter IDs, single-day-only voting, hand counting of paper ballots, no mail-in voting, all of which are not doable for a variety of reasons, most importantly because they would violate California law. What I wish they would do, if they don't like the law, is to talk to their state representatives in Sacramento, who have the power to change it. I don't. |
Does the county overall share their viewpoint? |
I don't think so. Certainly the results of the June primary, where most of their candidates were defeated, don't indicate that they do. There's this outside perception that this minority is everybody in the county, but I've also heard from a lot of conservative folks who live here who don't believe the 2020 election was stolen and would not want to be painted with that broad brush. And by the way, the last time people were concerned with election integrity, it was folks on the left who were concerned about technology. |
You recently held a presentation to counter election disinformation. How else do you encourage trust in the system? |
We just finished installing cameras in the public areas of our office, and we've created a single location outside the tabulation room for observers to gather, with monitors so that they can see all that they need to see. We'll hand out printed materials about what we're doing and where, so our staff don't have to stop what they're doing to answer so many questions. And I'm going to do what I've always done, which is conduct the election fairly and accurately in my community. |
It must feel like a character attack, these conspiracy theories about election workers. |
We have not received or experienced the kind of direct threats that election officials in some states have gotten. What we've experienced is more like bullying and aggressive behavior. But for those of us who work in elections — who miss our kids' football games or get home late for dinner or give up holidays and weekends to do this work. … |
I'm sorry. This is heavy stuff. It hurts. And not just hurt feelings. This is what our country is based on. There are folks running for office right now, all across the nation, who won't commit to accepting the results of the vote. Well, where does that leave us in January if we have multiple candidates for governor and secretary of state saying the election was rigged if I didn't win? It's wrong. And it's not OK. |
Shawn Hubler is a California correspondent for The Times and is based in Sacramento. |
If you read one story, make it this |
 | | A pedestrian crosses the street in Novato.Felix Uribe for The New York Times |
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- Legal jaywalking: California's "Freedom to Walk" act, which decriminalizes jaywalking, will go into effect on Jan 1.
- Carbon emissions drop: According to data released on Wednesday, California's carbon emissions dropped by 9 percent in 2020, but officials cautioned that that year should be seen as "an outlier," The Associated Press reports.
- Monkeypox vaccinations: Evidence is continuing to mount that monkeypox vaccinations and treatments are protecting against further spread of the virus in California, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- Kanye West: The fallout from the artist's embrace of antisemitic statements continued Wednesday when the organizers of two basketball tournaments revoked invitations for the team from Donda Academy, a high-profile boys' school West founded last year in Simi Valley.
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- Censure: The Los Angeles City Council voted to censure Councilmen Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, as well as former Councilwoman Nury Martinez, over their racist remarks on a recording, The Los Angeles Times reports.
- Audio investigation: The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating whether the secretly recorded conversation between de León, Cedillo, Martinez and a labor leader was made illegally.
- Mike Davis: The historian who wrote of catastrophes faced by and awaiting humankind, and especially Los Angeles, died this week at his home in San Diego. He was 76.
- Section 8 vouchers: The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles opened its lottery application for Section 8 vouchers last week, and so far 180,000 applications have been filed for just 30,000 waitlist spots, LAist reports.
- Bond proposal for housing: A new bond proposal by San Diego Unified would, if passed, allocate over $206 million to build affordable employee housing, Voice of San Diego reports.
- Fires: Two men were detained as the Los Angeles Fire Department investigated nine suspicious fires set in the morning in North Hollywood, The Los Angeles Times reports.
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- Abandoned annexation: Mayor Jerry Dyer of Fresno will not pursue a controversial plan to annex the unincorporated community of Calwa, reversing his position days after publicly apologizing to local community leaders, The Fresno Bee reports.
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- Mayor punched: Lamar Thorpe, the mayor of Antioch, was punched in the chest after giving a speech at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, The Associated Press reports.
- U.C. Davis: A melee broke out at U.C. Davis before an event that was supposed to feature a podcaster nicknamed "MAGA Hulk," The Sacramento Bee reports.
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 | | Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. |
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 | | The coast of Big Sur.Gazeau J/Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images |
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"Lovely, quiet beach with no toll and rare crowds. Walk in through the eucalyptus grove. North of Big Sur on the Pacific Coast Highway. A treasure." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
Are you being flooded with text messages from congressional candidates or groups trying to sway your vote on ballot initiatives? Have you tried to opt out of receiving these texts? |
 | | Buddhist statues at dusk at the Asian Garden Mall in Little Saigon in Westminster.Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) |
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And before you go, some good news |
For many of California's 700,000 Vietnamese Americans, the mention of a certain bus line makes them smile. |
"The first time riding this bus, I was feeling like I was sitting in central Saigon's sidewalk," Hong Cao, director of operations at the Viet Museum in San Jose, told KQED. "People on the bus were so talkative. They exchanged all the news that happened in San Jose and in Orange County. You did not need to read the newspaper to know what was happening in your areas." |
Since 1998, California's Vietnamese community has relied on the Xe Do Hoang bus line. Service runs from multiple Vietnamese commercial centers in California and Arizona, but the flagship route remains the one along Interstate 5 between San Jose and Westminster, the original Little Saigon. |
Most major stops are near at least one shop selling banh mi, the iconic Vietnamese sandwich. That's how the line got its nickname: the banh mi bus. |
Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow. |
Soumya Karlamangla, Briana Scalia and Steven Moity contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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