The United States Postal Service and the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters have launched an investigation to determine how a dozen or more Santa Clara County ballots wound up in a ravine in the Santa Cruz mountains, according to communications officer Michael Borja of the registrar’s office.
The ballots were discovered in a pile of other mail, discarded in the woods near Sugarloaf Road off Highway 17, Borja said. The ballots appear to have been removed from the mail and not one of the county’s designated ballot dropboxes.
Postal officials did not respond Saturday to a request for information about the dumped mail.
NBC Bay Area was first to report the ballots’ discovery on Friday.
Janet and Lou Witkin of San Jose say they were informed that their ballots are among the dozen or more that were discarded. The couple dropped off the ballots last Sunday at a post office on Payne Avenue in West San Jose.
“We were very, very surprised,” Janet Witkin said.
The registrar’s office is reviewing election law now in order to determine if the discarded ballots can still be legally counted. Janet Witkin said that she spent a lot of time filling out her ballot, and would be very disappointed if her vote does not get included in the official results. She said her husband even collected political mailers to stay informed on this year’s candidates and ballot measures.
“We put time and energy into this,” she said. “We vote every single time and we take this very seriously.”
Borja said the investigation into the discarded ballots is in its early stages.
“…[We are] very concerned about this unfortunate incident,” Borja said. “…[Our office] has extensive safeguards and chain-of-custody procedures to ensure that ballots are collected and transported safely and securely.”
