The discovery came months after the election was certified and the ballots were legally supposed to have been destroyed.
The ballots were cast in the November statewide special election focused on Proposition 50, the redistricting measure heavily promoted by Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic leaders.
Prop 50 was designed to create even more Democratic advantages in the state’s congressional and legislative maps by giving the party-controlled legislature more power over redistricting.
The measure passed by more than three million votes statewide, so these uncounted ballots alone would not have altered the final result. However, the discovery raises serious questions about how many other votes may have been overlooked in California’s mail-in and drop-box-dominated system.
According to the Humboldt County Office of Elections, the ballots were left behind because of a basic but inexcusable staff error.
An election worker failed to properly empty the drop box after polls closed, and the box was then locked with the ballots still inside.
The mistake was only discovered during a routine inventory check earlier this month, long after the election had been certified on December 5.
Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters Juan Pablo Cervantes gave a statement to theLos Angeles Times, taking full responsibility.
“That outcome is unacceptable and runs counter to the core of what this office stands for,” Cervantes said. “While the mistake occurred after an election worker did not follow proper procedures, the responsibility for what happened ultimately sits with me.”
County officials said the sealed ballots showed no signs of tampering. They have now contacted the California Secretary of State’s office to determine the proper legal steps for handling the late-discovered ballots, even though state law required them to be destroyed six months after certification.
Source: The Gateway Pundit
