Earlier this week, a batch of mail-in ballots was stolen in the Bay Area, adding to the growing scrutiny of California’s slow vote count following the primary elections on June 2.
The exact location of the theft remains uncertain, but authorities suspect the mail may have been taken from a blue collection box or a community mailbox.
After being recovered from bins of stolen mail at a Grocery Outlet store in Morgan Hill, the unopened ballots were delivered to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters in San Jose, according to the Postal Inspection Service.
“We found about 29 ballots,” Matt Moreles from the Registrar of Voters informed NBC Bay Area. “They were all still sealed in their return envelopes, allowing us to verify their signatures and confirm their validity before counting them.”
The store had multiple bins filled with stolen mail, which included the unopened ballots.
Postal inspector Matthew Norfleet explained to the outlet, “Mail thieves are typically after financial documents, but sometimes they inadvertently pick up election mail. There was no indication that the election-related mail was specifically targeted, and it seems it was left behind.”
The Postal Inspection Service says residents should double-check that their ballots were delivered and check local tracking tools.
“You can log onto our website, sccvote.org, and we have a look-up tool there,” Moreles said. “We also have a service that we go through, through the state, called Where’s-My-Ballot where you can sign up for text alerts or email alerts, so that as soon as we check in your ballot, you get notified as well.”
The investigation into the stolen ballots continues as California grapples with a painstakingly slow election process.
Los Angeles’ mayoral and California’s gubernatorial races have yet to be decided.
While incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November general election, their challengers have not yet been determined.
In LA, second-place Spencer Pratt and a surging Nithya Raman await more results. Statewide, Republican Steve Hilton leads the race but more Democratic ballots are expected to boost Democrat Tom Steyer.
Other election debacles have haunted California’s process this summer. A voting center in the Bay Area was unlocked as a voter showed up after-hours to cast her ballot. It appeared as if nothing in the center was tampered with.
