Police in Sammamish, Washington, were alerted this week of various mail-in ballots being stolen from mailboxes and discarded in another location.
Fox News reports:
The post office alerted the Sammamish Police Department “that unopened or incomplete ballots have been inappropriately placed in out-going mail bins,” the city of Sammamish said Friday.
Police have also investigated bags of mail that had ballots in them on roadsides and in ditches.
The postal service delivered roughly 90% of ballots in Sammamish on Thursday, and the discarded mail was found Friday morning when carriers were delivering other packages.
The theft in the Washington town is the latest concerning incident surrounding mail-in ballots heading into the November 3rd election.
On Friday, authorities announced a U.S. Postal Service employee was fired following the discovery of over 100 absentee ballots discarded in a dumpster in Louisville, Kentucky.
A contractor said that he found the unopened 112 ballots while renovating a home in Jefferson County on Thursday. Two political flyers were also found by Postal Service Office Inspector General agents.
“When the investigation is concluded, the case will be presented for federal prosecution to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Special Agent Scott Balfour said in a statement.
“I will point out that the vast majority of the Postal Service’s 630,000 employees are hard-working, trustworthy individuals work around the clock to deliver the nation’s mail, and incidents of this nature are exceedingly rare when put into that context,” Balfour added.
Jefferson County Board of Elections spokesperson Nore Ghibaudy said in a separate statement: “It was a little surprising. I think that them being found and being delivered immediately to the folks they were intended do at least makes us know that all the time we put into preparing them, at least they’re receiving them.”