County Clerk & Registrar of Voters, Shasta County, California
Bob Rust Interviews Clint Curtis
Interview Date: August 6, 2025
Originally Published: October 2, 2025
Re-Published: June 15, 2026
Attorney Bob Rust interviews election integrity advocate Clint Curtis regarding election administration reforms in Shasta County, California. Curtis discusses his appointment as Registrar of Voters, efforts to increase election transparency, ballot chain-of-custody procedures, public observation of election operations, and methods designed to allow citizens to independently verify election results. The discussion explores practical reforms that can be implemented while existing voting systems remain in use and examines how local jurisdictions may improve public confidence in election administration.
Clint Curtis, a computer programmer known for his congressional testimony regarding vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems, joins attorney Bob Rust to discuss his appointment as Registrar of Voters and election administrator in Shasta County, California. Curtis explains how Shasta County’s election procedures are being redesigned to maximize transparency, public observation, and ballot accountability while still operating within California’s legal requirement to use voting machines.
Curtis describes a system in which ballots are publicly processed, batch-tracked, recorded on video, and verified multiple times before and after machine tabulation. According to Curtis, the goal is to ensure that citizens can independently observe, review, and verify election procedures rather than relying solely on election officials or voting vendors. He argues that election legitimacy depends not only on technical accuracy but also on public confidence and transparency.
The discussion covers chain-of-custody procedures, observer access, ballot duplication concerns, machine tabulation, public livestreaming of election activities, and practical reforms that local jurisdictions can implement without immediately replacing existing voting equipment. Curtis contends that increased transparency and citizen oversight can reduce public distrust and improve confidence in election administration.
During the interview, Curtis outlines how election officials in other counties could adopt similar procedures and emphasizes that meaningful election reforms can often be implemented without major costs or changes to voting technology. Bob Rust concludes by highlighting Shasta County’s efforts as a potential model for jurisdictions seeking greater transparency and public accountability in election administration.
Selected Quotes
Quote 1 – Curtis Describes Writing Election-Machine Prototype Code
“I was the programmer that wrote the prototype for the electronic voting machines way back in 99, 2000. And even when I wrote that code, there was code in it by request. So someone could go and actually pick who was going to win in any race they wanted to switch.”
- PDF Page: 1
- Approximate Video Time: 2:18–2:45
Quote 2 – Why He Accepted the Shasta County Position
“The people out there are very motivated to get elections that they can trust… they appointed me, so I am in there and we are going to put an election together that will make sure that even if you’re stuck with the machines… the election machines cannot modify the election at all.”
- PDF Page: 1
- Approximate Video Time: 2:50–3:40
Quote 3 – California Changed the Law After Shasta Tried Hand Counting
“Shasta County voted to get rid of the machines and they were going to go full hand count. And within one week, the California legislature actually changed the law that they could not do that and had to use a machine.”
- PDF Page: 2
- Approximate Video Time: 4:45–5:10
Quote 4 – Citizens See Every Ballot
“Only in the precinct after election day… it will be counted out on camera in stacks of 50. So the citizens will see every ballot and know exactly what’s going on.”
- PDF Page: 2
- Approximate Video Time: 5:15–5:40
Quote 5 – Multiple Verification Steps
“We have cameras on these people. We have trackers on these people. Nothing can be changed on the way back.”
- PDF Page: 3
- Approximate Video Time: 6:10–6:25
Quote 6 – Excess Votes Discovered
“In the last election, they had 2,700 more votes than voters. I guess those are spares. I don’t know.”
- PDF Page: 4
- Approximate Video Time: 8:40–9:00
Quote 7 – Public Can Independently Verify Results
“The public now has the ability to look at every vote and to count the votes themselves.”
- PDF Page: 5
- Approximate Video Time: 9:35–9:50
Quote 8 – Election Results Before the Machines
“You will probably know the election results before I do in the machine.”
- PDF Page: 5
- Approximate Video Time: 10:10–10:20
Quote 9 – Public Ownership of Elections
“The public owns these elections. Not the bureaucrats, not the politicians.”
- PDF Page: 8
- Approximate Video Time: 16:20–16:40
Quote 10 – Most Important Quote
“The Public owns these elections. Our purpose as the bureaucrat running this is simply to make it flow. We’re making it flow so that the public can see it, so the public can understand it, and so the public trusts it.”
- PDF Page: 9
- Approximate Video Time: 17:20–17:45
Quote 11 – Definition of a Successful Election
“If the public isn’t happy with it, you do not have a successful election.”
- PDF Page: 9
- Approximate Video Time: 17:45–18:05
Quote 12 – Midterm Election Warning
“We need to get this done fairly quickly. There’s not a lot of cost. There’s not a lot of effort.”
- PDF Page: 10
- Approximate Video Time: 19:15–19:40
Quote 13 – Validation Before and After Tabulation
“It’s validated before right before it goes to the machine and it’s validated right after it comes out of the machine.”
- PDF Page: 10
- Approximate Video Time: 20:55–21:15
Quote 14 – Closing Message
“It doesn’t matter what vendor you’re using because it validates before the vendor. You can get this done quickly and you can let people know that their elections are going to be fair.”
- PDF Page: 11
- Approximate Video Time: 22:40–23:05
These are the strongest publication-ready quotes from the transcript and cover Curtis’s background, Shasta County reforms, transparency measures, public oversight, and election-verification model.
Interview Participants
- Robert N. Rust III, Esq.
- Clint Curtis, Registrar of Voters, Shasta County, California
Topics Discussed
- Election transparency
- Ballot chain of custody
- Public observation of elections
- Voting machine oversight
- Election administration reform
- Shasta County election procedures
- Citizen verification of election results
- Election integrity and public confidence
Transcript
Transcript Timing Note
Editor’s Note: This interview begins with the standard USA Citizens Network animated introduction. The introductory graphics and music are not transcribed. The transcript begins with Bob Rust’s opening remarks following the introduction sequence.
Approximate timeline:
• 00:00–00:32 — USA Citizens Network animated introduction and music
• 00:32 — Bob Rust begins speaking (voice-over)
• 00:35 — Bob Rust appears on screen
• 02:49 — Clint Curtis begins speaking after Bob Rust’s introduction and request for a brief personal background
The transcript begins with Bob Rust’s opening remarks and corresponds to the spoken content of the interview. Readers using the video and transcript together should note that transcript content begins approximately 32 seconds after the start of the video, and Clint Curtis begins speaking approximately 2 minutes and 49 seconds into the video.
