Was it suspicious that California Proposition 50 votes were counted and reported on the day after Election Day, but a 1% tax vote in Shasta County was not, as a person claimed in an online video? No, that's not true: The results of the election in Shasta County, for both Prop 50 and Measure A, were posted on the official Shasta county website on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 4:18 AM. A spokesperson for the county election board confirmed to Lead Stories that the information was publicly available on the website more than an hour before the person made the claim. Prop 50 was a statewide initiative on redrawing congressional districts that attracted nationwide attention and news coverage.
The claim appeared in a November 5, 2025 post by X.com account @WallStreetApes (archived here) and referred to a video posted by TikTok user @MaryJoTime. The post on X.com opened:
WOAH 🚨 California voter says they voted for only 2 things yesterday. Prop 50 Redistricting and a 1% sales tax increase
Both these things "were on the same ballot"
The county reported Prop 50 results but showed no counting on the tax increase
This is what the video included in the post looked like on X.com at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/WallStreetApes.)
The post shares what the woman in the video says:
"Listen to this. I live in Redding, California. That's in Shasta County. We had to vote on two things yesterday. One was Prop 50, the other one was a 1% increase in sales tax in the county of Shasta County.
The Prop 50 is passed as of 5:30 this morning. I found articles on articles 9 hours ago that Prop 50 is passed, so I'm curious if the 1% in my county of increase in sales tax has passed. I can't find anything. It's not counted.
They don't have the count. It's on the same ballot.
How can you count one? Shasta County is a couple hundred thousand, and for the Prop 50, millions of votes. How can you have one count and not the other when there's only two things on the ballot? It's on the same ballot. It's on the same ballot.
The person claims as of "5:30 this morning" on Nov. 5, 2025, they could not find any information about the 1% sales tax increase known as Measure A in Shasta County.
According to the official Shasta County website, the unofficial results were updated at 4:18:38 AM on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, more than an hour before the person posted her video. Here is a screenshot of the results showing that Measure A did not pass:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot from Shasta County website.)
Lead Stories spoke with Tommy Talkington, supervising analyst for early vote for Shasta county, via telephone on November 6, 2025. He confirmed that the update published on the website at 4:18 AM Pacific Time was the most current information about the election. The website notes that 100 percent of polling places had reported their vote tallies. Talkington said the county still has more ballots that were mailed in that they were still processing. "28 days after election day is when we are required by the state to have the election results certified," he explained, but said that he anticipates that Measure A will not pass.
Proposition 50 was a state-wide measure and received major attention across the country.
Local news website Record Searchlight covered the election and in a November 5 article about early results, cited numbers posted by the county at 1:18 AM for Measure A in Shasta county.
