ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) — Weeks before Election Day, election officials are trying to determine how a dozen unvoted mail-in ballots and other election materials ended up scattered along a road in Escondido.
The election mail was discovered Thursday morning along Lake Wohlford Road, east of East Valley Parkway.
Scott Harmes said he spotted dozens of pieces of election mail strewn along the road at a turnout.
“Obviously, huge problem. They didn’t get to the voter,” Harmes said. “Who’s responsible? Negligence? Malfeasance? How did this happen?”
Harmes reported the discovery to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. A different driver collected the election materials and turned them in to the Valley Center Post Office on Thursday.
According to the Registrar of Voters, the materials included 12 unvoted mail-in ballots.
Two of those ballots belonged to Neil and Sandra Carey of Pauma Valley.
“It’s not cool. We all have the right to vote,” Sandra Carey said.
Carey said it appears the recovered ballots were subsequently delivered. She and her husband received their ballots Saturday, and she said hers had tire marks on it.
Election officials say there are no indications of voter fraud and that no one attempted to cast a vote on behalf of the voters whose ballots were found.
The Registrar of Voters also said there is no indication the ballots went missing while in its custody.
A spokesperson said the Registrar is working closely with the U.S. Postal Service to determine where in the mailstream the election materials were misplaced.
The materials found along the road did not include other mail, casting doubt on theories a mailbag fell off a truck.
Carey said she believes determining what happened is important to maintaining confidence in the election process.
“I think it’s kind of fishy,” she said. “We want everybody to have their own chance. This is about election integrity.”
Carey said she does not plan to return her ballot by mail.
“My ballot will be going with me to the polling place, where I will give it to them in person,” she said..
This story was created from an original broadcast script and was converted into a web article with the assistance of artificial intelligence. The article was reviewed and edited by a journalist before publication
