Controversial Shasta County elections panel loses two more people. Will there be a quorum?

Two more members of a citizens’ election group that has been steeped in controversy are resigning.

Susanne Baremore announced in an email on Monday afternoon that she has resigned from the Shasta County Elections Commission.

And Bev Gray's last meeting as a commissioner will be April 22, according to Supervisor Patrick Jones, who appointed Gray to the five-member commission.

Jones said Gray wants to work on "some other things."

"She likes the commission, but she wants to be freed up," Jones said of Gray.

Baremore said she could not continue to be part of a citizens' panel that doesn't follow election law.

“The work that the commission is doing is just so at odds with the laws that the (Shasta County) Registrar of Voters has to follow,” Baremore told the Record Searchlight. “It makes me extremely uncomfortable the way we have let people come into our commission meetings with these outrageous claims of voter fraud and then to not follow up on them. We have a responsibility to not let that language go unfounded without doing some work to confirm those allegations.”

Baremore’s resignation comes about a week after she was arrested. Baremore confirmed the arrest but declined to say what led up to it.

The new resignations also come nearly a month after Dawn Duckett announced her resignation, saying the elections commission should be “disbanded and abolished immediately” and calling it a “waste of resources.”

Shasta County Supervisor Tim Garman, who appointed Duckett, has echoed Duckett’s sentiments and has called the elections commission “a sham.”

Garman has said he will not appoint a replacement for Duckett because the advisory panel is so out there that “it wouldn’t be fair to that individual.”

Supervisor Mary Rickert appointed Baremore to the elections commission. Rickert did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

In confirming her arrest, Baremore said it had no bearing on her decision to resign from the commission.

As for Gray's upcoming departure, Jones said he plans to appoint Patty Plumb in her place.

Who is Patty Plumb?

Plumb has been acting as spokeswoman for District 2 supervisor candidate Laura Hobbs, who filed a lawsuit last week in Shasta County Superior Court that asks a judge to "find moot the nomination of Allen Long as winner" in the District 2 race. The election results were certified about a week ago.

The lawsuit names as defendants Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen and Long.

Plumb has spoken at supervisors' meetings during public comment calling for the elimination of voting machines and going to a hand count of ballots.

With Baremore and Duckett gone, the commission would be down to three members for the April 22 meeting — Gray, Ronnean Lund and Lisa Michaud.

The three were appointed by Jones and his peers, Supervisors Chris Kelstrom and Kevin Crye, all far-right conservatives who voted in January 2023 to terminate the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems. The appointments have led to the assumption that Gray, Lund and Michaud will share the three supervisors' political views and their desire to eliminate voting machines.

The commission has come under fire for recommendations it’s made to supervisors, including creating a local ordinance to hand count all votes in local elections, which runs counter to state law.

Gray, Lund and Michaud were in the 3-2 majority to recommend the local hand-count ordinance.

In her resignation letter, Baremore states the county has “been informed by the state Attorney General that our recommendations are inconsistent with the law.”

Baremore told the Record Searchlight that supervisors received a letter from the AG’s office that said hand counting ballots is “illegal based on the passage of AB 969.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 969 into law in October. The law bans the manual tally of ballots in elections with more than 1,000 registered voters. Shasta County has more than 110,000 registered voters.

Background on radio ad pulled by KQMS

The Shasta County Elections Commission also has come under fire over a political ad that is at the center of an investigation by the California Secretary of State.

The ad, aired on KQMS radio, encouraged residents who received ballots or other voting materials that did not belong to them or someone in their household to report it by calling what turned out to be someone's private phone number.

More: LIVE: Recount not happening on Monday for Shasta Supervisors District 2 race

The radio station pulled the ad before the March 5 primary election and said Supervisor Jones and Gray were behind the radio ad.

Jones has denied any involvement in the radio ad.

Of the elections commission, Baremore said in part in her letter, “the degree of hubris it takes to ignore the experience, education, knowledge and wisdom of this many professionals who have dedicated their entire careers to local governance is astounding and deeply embarrassing.”

“I do not see a clear path to the work we were created to do, nor a framework through which quality work can be produced. Please accept this letter as my formal resignation from the Shasta County Elections Commission,” her letter concludes.

Reporter Damon Arthur contributed to this report.

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 X, formerly Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta County Elections Commission loses two more members