Editing Sierra County, California (section)

== Politics and government ==
Because Loyalton is Sierra County's most populous [[municipality]] and its only incorporated city, generally half of the meetings of the county's board of supervisors are held in Downieville and the other half are held in Loyalton.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sierracounty.ws/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=4&MMN_position=5:5 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427093457/http://www.sierracounty.ws/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=4&MMN_position=5:5 | url-status=usurped | archive-date=April 27, 2006 | title=Sierra County Government Directory | access-date=March 5, 2011}}</ref>  The county is governed by the five-member Sierra County Board of Supervisors, consisting of the following members as of August 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Supervisors |url=http://sierracounty.ca.gov/182/Board-of-Supervisors |website=Sierra County, CA |publisher=Sierra County |access-date=August 16, 2021}}</ref>
* District One (Downieville, Goodyears' Bar, Pike, Alleghany): Lee Adams, Chairman
* District Two (Sierra City, Bassetts, Verdi): Peter W. Huebner
* District Three (Calpine, Sattley, Sierraville): Paul Roen
* District Four (Loyalton): Terry LeBlanc
* District Five (Sierra Brooks): Sharon Dryden

Law enforcement is provided by the Sierra County Sheriff's Department, headed by current Sierra County Sheriff-Coroner Michael "Mike" Fisher. Due to the county's sparse population and geographical obstacles, the Sheriff's Department operates a substation in Loyalton in addition to their main headquarters in Downieville.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sheriff-Coroner |url=http://sierracounty.ca.gov/298/Sheriff-Coroner |website=Sierra County, CA |publisher=Sierra County |access-date=August 16, 2021}}</ref>

=== Voter registration statistics ===

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
! colspan="3" | Population and registered voters
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | Total population<ref name="US-CB-B02001">U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001. [https://www.census.gov U.S. Census website]. Retrieved October 26, 2013.</ref>
| colspan="2" | 3,277
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS">California Secretary of State. [http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/ror-odd-year-2013/political-sub.pdf February 10, 2013 - Report of Registration] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727173649/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ror/ror-pages/ror-odd-year-2013/political-sub.pdf |date=July 27, 2013 }}. Retrieved October 31, 2013.</ref><ref name="PCT-RV" group=note>Percentage of registered voters with respect to total population. Percentages of party members with respect to registered voters follow.</ref>
| 2,223
| 67.8%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 631
| 28.4%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 939
| 42.2%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Democratic&ndash;Republican spread<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-308'''</span>
| <span style="color: #d6002b;">'''-13.8%'''</span>
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;American Independent<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 126
| 5.7%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Green<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 24
| 1.1%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Libertarian<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 30
| 1.3%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Peace and Freedom<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 4
| 0.2%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Americans Elect<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 0
| 0.0%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 42
| 1.9%
|-
! scope="row" style="text-align: left;" | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
| 427
| 19.2%
|}

==== Cities by population and voter registration ====

{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed sortable" style="width: 100%;"
|-
! colspan="8" | Cities by population and voter registration
|-
! City
! data-sort-type="number" | Population<ref name="US-CB-B02001"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Registered voters<ref name="CA-SS"/><br /><ref name="PCT-RV" group=note/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Democratic<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Republican<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | D&ndash;R spread<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | Other<ref name="CA-SS"/>
! data-sort-type="number" | No party preference<ref name="CA-SS"/>
|-
| [[Loyalton, California|Loyalton]] || 890 || 49.1% || 32.3% || 38.7% || <span style="color: #800080;">'''-6.4%'''</span> || 14.6% || 19.9%
|}

=== Overview ===
Sierra County at one time had favored the Democratic party in presidential elections and was one of few counties in California to be won by [[George McGovern]]. In more recent times it is a strongly Republican county in [[President of the United States|presidential]] and [[United States Congress|congressional]] elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[United States presidential election in California, 1976|1976]].

{{PresHead|place=Sierra County, California|source1=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=September 1, 2018}}</ref>|source2=<ref group=note>The leading "other" candidate, national [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive]] and statewide Republican nominee [[Theodore Roosevelt]], received 483 votes, whilst [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] candidate [[Eugene V. Debs]] received 133 votes, [[Prohibition Party]] candidate [[Eugene W. Chafin]] received 13 votes, and various [[write-in candidate]]s received 14 votes.</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|1,066|641|48|California}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|1,142|730|75|California}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|1,048|601|209|California}}  
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|1,056|653|90|California}}  
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|1,158|743|90|California}}  
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|1,249|646|53|California}}  
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|1,172|540|135|California}}  
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|877|573|257|California}}  
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|691|653|531|California}}  
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|860|791|45|California}}  
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|1,078|781|37|California}}  
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|855|651|212|California}}  
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|680|841|55|California}}  
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|629|658|37|California}}  
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|548|559|86|California}}  
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|413|828|0|California}}  
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|576|647|8|California}}  
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|638|620|4|California}}  
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|822|698|9|California}}  
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|546|660|52|California}}  
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|443|662|5|California}}  
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|511|1,057|10|California}}  
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|340|1,152|15|California}}  
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|292|796|59|California}}  
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|457|420|10|California}}  
{{PresRow|1924|Progressive|276|73|360|California}}  
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|506|158|37|California}}  
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|360|594|64|California}}  
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|10|515|633|California}}  
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|600|410|73|California}}  
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|791|376|49|California}}  
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|702|436|13|California}}  
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|707|527|15|California}}  
{{PresFoot|1892|Republican|787|529|54|California}}

On November 4, 2008, Sierra County voted 64.2% for Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?off=67&year=2008&elect=0&evt=0&f=0&fips=6091&submit=Retrieve|title=2008 Initiative General Election Results - Sierra County, CA}}</ref>

In the [[California state special elections, 2009|2009 special statewide election]], Sierra County had the highest voter turnout of any county in California and almost double the average statewide, with 53.6% of registered voters participating, according to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=La Ganga|first=Maria L.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-may-22-me-turnout22-story.html|title=Sierra County (where everyone votes by mail) is serious about elections|date=May 22, 2009|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=April 2, 2013}}</ref>