Smooth election doesn't heal the breach in Shasta County

Shasta County (Wikipedia)

Tuesday's election went smoothly almost everywhere, including Shasta County, California, where a county supervisor was ousted in a March recall election, partly over doubts about election procedure. But the rural Northern California county remains deeply divided. "Local election officials and poll workers have felt threatened and under siege. The split is not so much red versus blue but traditional conservative versus far right," reports Hailey Branson-Potts of the Los Angeles Times.

“We’re tired. Down-to-the bones tired," Cathy Darling Allen, the county clerk and registrar of voters, told Branson-Potts. Allen said she has been harassed and vilified by election deniers.

Patty Plumb, who conducted a door-to-door "citizen's audit" in the county, told Branson-Potts, “The machines need to be turned off, unplugged, melted down and turned into prison bars."

Branson-Potts writes, "So it was considered a relief — a victory, to some — that election night here came and went peacefully, without violence or intimidation. But the conspiracy theories about the validity of voting, and the targeting of the elections office, won’t stop any time soon, according to both Allen and local election deniers themselves."