Yahoo Autos UPDATE: Incumbent Cathy Darling Allen takes 41-point lead in Shasta County clerk's race
Incumbent Cathy Darling Allen is being challenged by Bob Holsinger in the Shasta County clerk's race. The candidate who receives more than 50% of the vote wins the race outright.
Check back on this story for updates.
Update, 1:45 a.m.: Darling Allen holds wide lead over opponent
Cathy Darling Allen had a decisive lead in results from Tuesday's contest for Shasta County clerk.
Unofficial vote results show her comfortably ahead of her opponent, Bob Holsinger, with 70.84% of ballots cast in the contest.
If the results hold, Darling Allen will win the race outright and avoid a runoff in November. Darling Allen has been the county clerk and registrar of voters for 18 years.
Update, 11:45 p.m.: Darling Allen still up with precincts reporting
With 9% of the precincts reporting, Cathy Darling Allen still maintains a healthy lead over challenger Bob Holsinger.
Darling Allen has 77% of the vote. Holsinger has 23% of the vote.
Update, 8 p.m. Tuesday: Darling Allen ahead in early voting ballots
Incumbent Cathy Darling Allen bolted out to a big lead in the first batch of results released Tuesday.
Allen has collected 79% of the votes to challenger Bob Holsinger's 21%.
The early results show Darling Allen has 14,796 votes. Holsinger has 3,856 votes.
Original story
For only the second time since 1990, Shasta County’s county clerk and registrar of voters is facing a challenge in Tuesday's primary election.
Cathy Darling Allen has been county clerk since 2004, when she was appointed to replace retired Clerk Ann Reed. Darling Allen staved off challenges in 2006 and 2010 before running unopposed in 2014 and 2018.
Her latest opponent, Bob Holsinger, is a retired utility manager, and part of a hard-right group that is running as self-proclaimed “anti-establishment” candidates who were buoyed by the recent recall of Shasta County Supervisor Leonard Moty.
Holsinger has based his campaign on questioning the trust and confidence of the nation's voting system, especially the Dominion machines that are used in Shasta County and other parts of the country to tally votes.
Dominion machines have been the focus of many baseless claims by conservative groups since Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
Using numbers, Darling Allen has assured Shasta County supervisors more than once that the Dominion machines are accurate and secure.
Last December, Darling Allen told supervisors that a paper count audit of 10,000 ballots tallied by Dominion machines after the November 2020 election showed "zero variances.” In other words, there were no mistakes.
That example came before supervisors voted 4-1 to amend the county’s agreement with Dominion Voting Systems. Supervisor Patrick Jones, who has voiced his “displeasure” with the machines, cast the lone dissenting vote.
For the record, Jones beat incumbent Steve Morgan in November 2020 to win the District 4 seat.
After the recall of District 2 Supervisor Leonard Moty in February, Darling Allen’s office did a paper audit of the entire recall vote count. There were no mistakes.
Darling Allen is campaigning on her experience and is endorsed by ShastaVote, a political action committee (PAC) whose financial backing comes from those who fought the recall of Moty.
Darling Allen says her leadership and involvement in related activities benefit county voters, noting she has participated and led research projects that look at the ways elections are funded in California and nationwide. She said she also has led the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials.
Meanwhile, Holsinger is one of six local candidates backed by the Liberty Committee. Much of Liberty’s money comes from supporters of Moty’s recall, including Reverge Anselmo, the Connecticut millionaire who contributed $450,000 to the recall and $180,000 to the Liberty Committee. Anselmo sold his Shasta County winery several years ago after a long-running legal battle with the county over permitting for his cattle ranch and winery.
Holsinger says he has served as a Shasta County volunteer election server in five elections.
If elected, Holsinger says he will work to replace with Dominion voting machines with a state-approved alternative vote-tally machine.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County clerk election results: Darling Allen leads Holsinger
