California county that tried to hand-count ballots picks novice to replace retiring elections chief

The leaders of a conservative California county that tried to hand-count ballots in response to unfounded claims of fraud have hired a new registrar of voters with no experience running elections.

The Shasta County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Wednesday to give the job to Tom Toller, a former Shasta County prosecutor who told the board he supports hand-counting ballots, which experts have said is an unrealistic task given the tens of thousands of ballots returned in a countywide election that includes dozens of races.

Nestled in the often snow-capped shadow of Mount Shasta, the county made national news in 2023 when the conservative majority on the board of supervisors voted to abruptly get rid of their vote-counting machines and ordered elections officials to count ballots by hand.

The voting machines were made by Dominion Voting Systems, the Canadian-based company at the center of debunked conspiracy theories of why former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.

The Democrats who control the state Legislature intervened, passing a law that forbids counties from hand-counting ballots except in narrow circumstances.

Controversy over the voting machines divided the community to the point that some residents tried to recall Supervisor Kevin Crye from office. Crye narrowly survived that recall attempt in a March election that many saw as a referendum on the wisdom of hand-counting ballots.

Toller, who also helped train attorneys and police officers across the state during a stint at the California District Attorneys Association, indicated he would support a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s ban on hand-counting ballots, should the county decide to file one.

“I think it’s a system that’s capable of