Registrar’s push for outreach and cheaper voter files draws split public response; board takes no action

Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis presented a plan to expand community outreach and make voter-file data and election reports more accessible, including a request to reduce the voter-file fee to $5 and to purchase small American flags for distribution at outreach events.

Curtis said the outreach work increased volunteer sign-ups and engagement at events: “We had 600 people come in” during a Fourth of July outreach and the flags drew citizens to the booth, he said. He argued lowering the voter-file fee improves transparency and access for community analysts and said making files more readily available could obviate the need for security expenses that used to be required at elections.

County Counsel Joe Larimer advised the board the draft resolution contained language and delegation requests that were not legally sufficient as written. Auditor-Controller Nolda Short raised a fiscal caution: fee studies should reflect “fully loaded” staff time and administrative overhead; she noted the county has not yet audited that specific fee. The CAO said that even if the board granted temporary waiver authority, purchases would still have to satisfy public-purpose requirements; the auditor would not approve purchases that lacked legal public purpose.

Public comment split sharply. Several local transparency advocates and citizen analysts urged lower fees for voter rolls to enable crowd review, citing past anomalies they believe required scrutiny. “We should be able to see this,” said one commenter who had pooled donations to purchase voter files in past years. Other speakers called the proposal an “electioneering stunt” and warned the county should not subsidize campaign-style outreach; some argued the registrar’s public-facing activities risked the appearance of campaigning.

After extended discussion and public comment, the board voted to take no action on the resolution on this agenda and directed staff to provide further financial and legal analysis if needed. The Registrar may return with more detail, including a proper fee recalculation and a restricted list of acceptable outreach items (the chair indicated a preference for “small American flags” rather than open-ended “nominal items”).

What happens next: The Registrar was advised to complete a time-and-cost study for distributing voter files, to revise the draft resolution per County Counsel’s guidance, and to bring specific, budgeted requests back for board consideration.

Source: Presentation and public comment at the Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting.