Counterprotesters support Shasta County clerk, elections staff
The Shasta County Elections Office received a show of support Friday morning from a group of about 10 people — and one dog — as the ballot count continues from Tuesday's primary election.
Several in the group carried signs that backed County Clerk Cathy Darling Allen and county election workers. One held by Sandra Taylor said "We (heart) Shasta County Election Department staff!"
Linda McCrea's sign said "Let them count — Support county clerk!" Another read "Support the staff — back off!"
Friday morning's demonstration approving of Darling Allen and her staff served as a counterprotest to Tuesday night's confrontation involving some election observers.
Shasta County elections officials said discussions they had with backers of a slate of six anti-establishment candidates became "contentious" and at least one worker said she felt "intimidated" by them.
Asked about the issue during a press briefing on Friday afternoon, Allen said, "everything's settled down."
Read more: Shasta County election officials say observers tried to 'intimidate' them during vote count
"We're here to support this excellent, outstanding election department and we're really upset they're being harassed," said Cheryl McKinley, chair of the Shasta County Democratic Women's Club and Friends, who's also part of the Democratic Central Committee of Shasta County.
The women's club backed the local incumbents in the nonpartisan races, including District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett, Superintendent of Schools Judy Flores, Sheriff Michael Johnson and Darling Allen. The club also supported supervisor candidates Erin Resner in District 1 and Baron Browning in District 5.
McKinley, accompanied by Gryffin the Protest Dog, said she's familiar with the workings of the elections office from turning in voter-registration signatures.
"Cathy has an unblemished record of 37 outstanding elections that she's run and overseen. It's ridiculous that they're saying otherwise or even questioning (her)," McKinley said.
McKinley and Taylor went upstairs to watch from outside the election department's ballot tabulation room where they were at least another eight observers monitoring the process.
The Liberty Committee supported six "anti-establishment" challengers that are sheriff candidate John Greene, District 5 candidate Chris Kelstrom, District 1 candidate Kevin Crye, district attorney candidate Erik Jensen, clerk candidate Bob Holsinger and superintendent of schools candidate Bryan Caples.
As of Thursday, nearly half of all votes cast still needed to be tallied. The clerk's office said 23,953 ballots were waiting to be counted, including some mail-in, drop-off and provisional ballots.
Read more: How long will vote counting take in Shasta County races? What to know about vote results
Some 26,140 ballots already have been processed. A significant update of the vote totals was expected at 5 p.m. Friday.
While not indicating it was affecting the count, Allen said Friday that more county offices had entered COVID-19 "outbreak" status this week, more "than we've had in weeks."
Darling Allen, Bridgett, Flores and Johnson were leading while Resner was just under the 50% threshold for a possible runoff with Crye. Browning looked like he was heading into a November runoff with Kelstrom.
Another clerk's office supporter Friday morning was Robert Sid, who said he's a conservative Republican "slightly to the right of Attila the Hun." He was wearing a hat promoting Bridgett for district attorney and said he's a JFK Democrat at heart.
He said he doesn't want people to fight or harass, adding that he's not liked by his far-right brethren.
"I'm disappointed with them because I feel they're under an illusion that this is either a patriotic calling or Divine Providence," Sid said. "They don't play well with others. It's liberty without virtue."
Record Searchlight reporter Michele Chandler contributed to this report.
Mike Chapman is an award-winning reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Support local journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Counterprotesters support Shasta County clerk, elections staff
