Over 100 mail-in ballots found in Kentucky dumpster, employee may face federal charges

Among the discarded postal items were 112 absentee ballots, and political advertisements, according to local news.

"I will point out that the vast majority of the Postal Service's 630,000 employees are hard-working," said Special Agent Scott Balfour, from the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General, "trustworthy individuals who work around the clock to deliver the nation's mail, and incidents of this nature are exceedingly rare when put into that context."

Balfour stated in a release that agents had identified the worker, and that their employment had been terminated. Balfour also said that crimes can be reported to a hotline at 888-USPS-OIG or www.uspsoig.gov.

The mail was found on Thursday, having been not delivered to homes or businesses and instead deposited in a dumpster. A contract found the mail, near Tully Elementary school in Jeffersontown. All mail was intended for zip code 40299.

The ballots and additional items were then delivered to customers. Mail-in ballots in Kentucky must be posted by election day, on Nov. 3, and delivered by Nov. 6. Voters who do not receive their mail-in ballots by Oct. 28 are able to vote in person.

There have been additional mail-in ballots found discarded this election season, including in Pennsylvania. Ohio saw 50,000 voters receive the wrong mail-in ballots meaning that had they been used, their votes would have been invalidated. over 100,000 voters in Brooklyn, New York, also received faulty ballots, which had to be reissued. Garbage bags full of mail were also recently seized outside the home of a Pennsylvania postal worker.