"California Introduces Bill to Address Shasta County's Hand-Counting of Ballots"

California lawmakers have passed legislation, AB 969, that would require most elections in the state to use state-approved machines for ballot counting, in response to a right-wing attempt in Shasta County to hand-count future elections. The bill awaits the governor's signature and would only allow hand-counting in certain circumstances, such as natural disasters or emergencies. Shasta County's decision to cancel its contract with Dominion Voting Systems and move to hand-count ballots based on unproven claims of election fraud led to the county being unable to conduct elections for months. County officials have criticized hand-counting as more expensive, time-consuming, and less accurate than using machines.