SEATTLE. Dozens of undelivered ballots for the upcoming midterm election were discovered among discarded mail in a dumpster at a Seattle park, according to King County Elections.
Per KOMO, a voter called the elections office customer service line to report the find, and staff sent to Golden Gardens Park located two bins of mail in a dumpster that included 92 ballots.
Kendall Hodson, chief of staff for King County Elections, said the incident was reported to the U.S. Postal Service for investigation and that replacement ballots have already been reissued to the affected voters.
Hodson told KOMO that mail theft does not slow down for election season, and that the office tends to hear about a handful of cases of ballots being tossed after mail theft in each big election. She said law enforcement partners consistently report, and the fact the ballots were left behind shows, that ballots are typically not the target in mail theft.
The U.S. Postal Service said in a statement that it is fully committed to the secure and timely delivery of the nation's Election Mail, and that the matter is with the USPS Office of the Inspector General.
According to KCE spokesperson Halei Watkins, every voter has a voter ID and every individual ballot has its own ballot ID, and only one ballot per voter can be accepted. She said workers perform verification on every signature on every ballot, and elections workers are trained in signature verification by the Washington State Patrol.
If a signature raises questions, Watkins said, the ballot is held while officials reach out to the voter to confirm it, and voters have until the day before the official certification date to resolve any issues, with contact made by letter, email or phone when that information was voluntarily provided.
King County voters who have not received a ballot can call 206-296-8683. Anyone who finds ballots where they should not be is asked to email [email protected] or call 206-296-VOTE and, if possible, provide a photo and details of where they were found.