Mail theft, scattered ballots along roadside raise concerns about mail-in voting in California: report

Concerns about the security of mail-in voting in California are mounting after election mail was found scattered along a roadside. A separate region in the state also saw a theft targeting a US Postal Service truck just one month before the November midterm elections.

According to ABC 10 News, dozens of pieces of election mail, including signed and unsigned mail-in ballots, were discovered scattered along Lake Wholford Road in San Deigo’s North County region last Thursday morning. Scott Harmes, a local resident, stopped to investigate after hearing of the discovery. He said the mail was spread across the road and did not look as though a mailbag simply fell out of a USPS truck.

"The way they were spread out it almost looks like they were thrown out the window of a car," Harmes said.

"Obviously there was a huge problem, because these didn't get to the voter. Is it negligence? Malfeasance?" he added. "This discovery really shows we have to have greater concern for the chain of custody of ballots.”

In a separate incident, federal postal inspectors are investigating a mail theft in Sacramento’s College Glen neighborhood. The theft occurred on Tuesday, one day after Sacramento County began mailing ballots to voters.

Surveillance footage showed a gray SUV pulling alongside a USPS vehicle before a masked individual exited the SUV and removed trays of mail from the postal truck. Investigators said election ballots may have been among the stolen mail.

Mary Brown, a resident in the neighborhood who was expecting ballots for her great-grandchildren, said she saw through USPS Informed Delivery that the ballots were scheduled to arrive but never received them.

"I looked at my informed mail, and it was supposed to have my great-grandchildren's ballot," Brown told KCRA. "It was mailed. It should've been in my mailbox that day."

Federal postal inspectors have offered a reward for information leading to an arrest. Authorities have also encouraged voters to use the California Secretary of State’s ballot-tracking system to check when their ballots are mailed and received.

The incidents come amid a broader debate over mail-in voting rules. In March, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to take steps to impose new requirements on mail-in ballots. The order sought to require states to submit lists of eligible voters to the US Postal Service, and gave the USPS authority to refuse to deliver ballots that did not meet the new requirements. However, the Supreme Court declined in September to allow the Postal Service to implement these restrictions ahead of the midterm elections, leaving in place a lower court order blocking the rules.