U.S.|California Sues to Stop One County’s Ban on Most Mail Voting

California officials have sued to block a measure approved by Shasta County voters that would end most mail voting, require voters to present government-issued photo identification to register and to vote, and mandate the hand-counting of ballots.

In their lawsuit, state officials argued that the Shasta County ballot initiative, Measure B, which passed in June with 55 percent of the vote, violated state election laws and needed to be struck down before the November general election. The lawsuit was filed in California’s Third District Court of Appeal on Friday by Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

The five proponents of Measure B, who are named as “real parties in interest” in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the litigation “is just one more stark demonstration of the crushing hostility and contempt that our elected officials hold for citizens who use the initiative process to improve elections and safeguard their freedom.”

Measure B’s supporters included the county’s current clerk and registrar of voters, Clint Curtis, who was ousted by voters in the same June election in which the measure was passed. The newly elected registrar, a longtime elections official named Joanna Francescut, had been fired by Mr. Curtis.

A vast majority of California voters cast ballots by mail or drop off completed ballots in special boxes offered by each county. That includes Shasta County, where about 90 percent of voters in the November 2025 special election mailed or dropped off their ballots, according to state data.