California police are investigating a man who was found passed out in a vehicle with more than 300 unused mail ballots for the gubernatorial recall election of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom set to take place on 14 September.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was located in a 7-Eleven parking lot on 16 August.
He was found by Torrance police in southern Los Angeles. Officers also found Xanax pills, methamphetamine, a loaded gun, thousands of other pieces of mail, a scale, several driver licenses’ and credit cards in other people’s names.
The suspect was arrested on several charges, including weapons, narcotics, and forgery crimes. Torrance police said the incident is not connected to any other case of ballot theft.
“Investigators are trying to figure out how the election ballots ended up in the suspect’s vehicle and what their intent was in having them,” Torrance law enforcement said in a statement. “In the meantime, those who were identified through this investigation will be receiving a new election ballot.”
Torrance police Sergeant Mark Ponegalek told KABC that the ballots were found in a box as well as “strewn across the backseat”.
“The election ballots, they were un-tampered with, unopened, a little over 300 of them found, primarily from addresses in Lawndale,” Sgt Ponegalek said. “There were some from Compton. We’re still trying to figure out where all these belonged to at this time so we’re working with the Los Angeles [county] election office as well as the US Postal Inspector.”
The Los Angeles County Registrar said the ballots had been sent out to but not sent back by voters. Officials added that there’s nothing that indicates that the ballots had been taken in an effort to affect the outcome of the September vote.
“There’s nothing to indicate this was focused on the election,” a spokesperson for the LA registrar told KABC.
The suspect who was taken into custody has been released on his own recognizance.
