Recall Shasta Supervisor Crye supporters deliver signatures; optimistic they have enough

Leaders of an effort to recall Shasta County District 1 Supervisor Kevin Crye delivered two boxes of signatures on Tuesday morning, and they’re confident they have enough to put the recall on the ballot.

Jeff Gorder, spokesman for the Committee to Recall Kevin Crye, said during a news conference they submitted 5,104 signatures.

They will need 4,151 valid signatures to put the recall on the ballot. Gorder said the goal is to get the recall on the March 5, 2024, ballot.

Joanna Francescut, assistant county clerk and registrar of voters, said election officials will work to complete a raw count of the signatures by the end of this week. Then the elections office will start validating signatures, a process that is expected to take 30 business days.

Francescut said the public can witness the raw count, but per state election code, the public cannot observe the validating process because of the confidential voter information on the signed petitions.

“I’d like to thank the hundreds of volunteers and financial supporters who made this moment possible. This has truly been a grassroots, locally funded effort,” Gorder said as the group gathered outside the Shasta County Registrar of Voters office in downtown Redding.

Gorder said despite Crye’s claim that the recall is being driven by liberal Democrats, this was a non-partisan effort.

“Our volunteers and supporters come from all political affiliations, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, Democrat, No-Party Preference, Green, common sense. Over half of those who have signed the petition are non-Democrats. We all have one thing in common, we seek a return to stable and responsible government, a government that we can be proud of,” he said.

Crye and his supporters have depicted the recall effort as a way for Gov. Gavin Newsom to pick Crye’s replacement, should he be recalled.

A new state law that went into effect in January gives the governor’s office the job of selecting a temporary replacement, should the recall of Crye be successful. Recall supporters have sent a letter to the governor’s office asking him not to make an appointment in the event the recall is successful.

More: Shasta group asks Newsom not to appoint a new supervisor should Crye recall go through

Crye has established a political action committee called Stop Newsom: No on Crye Recall.

During a break in a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, Crye addressed the allegations recall supporters have made against him.

"There are a lot of things that have been said that are just so untrue, and what's tough for me is just letting it go. That's one thing I've learned in politics is people just get to say whatever they want, there's very little accountability. So I've just had to take that in stride and just realize that the reality is people have the right to say what they want," he said.

Crye said he didn't think recall proponents gathered enough signatures to survive the elections department's signature validations. But if the recall does make it onto the ballot, he said he would fight it.

"If this does work, I don't think it will, but if it does go to a ballot in March, it's going to be my job to make sure people really understand what I stand for and what the group that opposes me stands for," Crye said.

Recall supporters started gathering signatures on May 16, weeks after serving Crye with a notice of their intent at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Judy Menoher, a retired educator who lives in District 1, said they got off to quick start, but progress slowed.

"We started doing (signature) blitzes in neighborhoods under the leadership of Jeff Gorder and it was outstanding. Our goal was 30 a night and we brought in about 50 signatures a night sometimes," said Menoher, who is registered as No Party Preference.

"That's all we did all summer, canvas," she added.

Recall supporters have said, among other things, Crye’s vote to terminate the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems and go to manually tallying ballots was a vote to throw away millions of taxpayers’ dollars by attempting to put in place an unproven voting system. Crye and Supervisors Patrick Jones and Chris Kelstrom voted to ditch Dominion.

The county’s quest to hand count all ballots in future elections has so far cost it in excess of $1.5 million, and that number is expected to go up.

But the effort might be moot.

Last week, a state bill that would ban the manual counting of ballots in elections with more than 1,000 registered voters passed the Assembly. Now the bill heads Newsom's desk, where he is expected to sign it into law. Because the bill is an urgency statute, it would take effect immediately.

Meanwhile, Gorder said the group is confident it has enough signatures because they did an internal review process in which a committee member went through each signature to verify the voter registration and the address of the individual who signed the petition.

The only thing the group's internal review couldn't do is verify that the signature "matches the signature on file with the Registrar of Voters," Gorder said.

To counter Crye's allegation that Newsom will appoint his successor should he be recalled, Gorder's group sent a letter to the governor that included the signatures of 78 Shasta County voters, including business leaders like Sierra Pacific Industries owner Archie Aldis “Red” Emmerson and Supervisor Mary Rickert.

On Tuesday, Gorder said they still have not gotten a response from the governor's office.

"We plan to of course re-energize those efforts and see what headway we can make, but we haven't heard from the governor and don't know if we will or not," Gorder said.

If Newsom choosea not to appoint a successor, Crye's open seat would go to the November 2024 general election. The winner would serve out the remaining two years of his term.

Crye would be the second Shasta County supervisor to be recalled.

In February 2022, District 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty was recalled in a special election. Tim Garman was the voters' choice to replace Moty on the board.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Signatures to recall Shasta Supervisor Crye are turned in