Despite tomorrow’s Ballot Drop Off event at Safeway, the Lassen County Clerk’s Office advises voters to follow established voting procedures instead
Earlier today LassenNews printed a statement from Congressman Doug LaMalfa’s Office regarding a Voter ID Signature Drive and Ballot Drop Off event to be held at the Safeway parking lot from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 18.
According to that statement, LaMalfa said, “I invite those who want to fight back against Gavin Newsom’s attempt to eliminate rural voices and restore the integrity of our voting process to join me to sign the petition to place a Voter ID Initiative on the 2026 ballot and voters can drop off their ballots that will be delivered to the registrar’s office.”
Readers have contacted Lassen News questioning the appropriateness of turning their ballots over to those hosting the event.
One reader commented, “I don’t believe there is an official secure ballot drop box at the Safeway parking lot. So, we’re supposed to just hand these folks our ballots?”
Seeking some clarity on the matter, LassenNews asked the Lassen County Clerk’s Office about the issue.
Assistant Lassen County Clerk Recorder Sarah Howe said LaMalfa’s office never contacted local election officials about the event, and the Lassen County Clerk’s office is not involved in any way.
“We have a chain of custody for our ballot drop boxes,” Howe said. “We have the system set in place where we can verify their arrival here. We don’t do ballot harvesting. We don’t do ballot collecting. Our office is not tied to this event at all. Nor did anyone reach out to speak to us to see if that would be OK ahead of time.”
Howe suggested, “What they (LaMalfa and staff) need to be doing is advocating for our ballot box drop off or putting it in the mail or delivering it in person themselves … That’s what we recommend.”
Local resident Jacqui Henry asks Congressman Doug LaMalfa a question during a Town Hall meeting at Jensen Hall.According to LaMalfa’s Facebook page, “Join me in Susanville tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 17, to sign the California Voter ID petition and rally for No on Prop 50. We’ll have signs to hand out and can take ballots to registrar’s office for you.”
“We are a nonpartisan office,” Howe said. “We don’t participate in any party events of any kind. Integrity in our office is important to us.”
