Residents in a Berkeley neighborhood learned their ballots may have been stolen since they never came in the mail.
Julie Chervin and her neighbors are worried about what could happen if someone else casts their vote for them in the historic election since their ballots never arrived. According to local police, a postal worker reported they were robbed on October 9, and ballots and election-related mail were in the truck.
"If somebody had a mind to, they could just vote fraudulently for everyone on the block," Chervin said.
Three local election official said they recommended those impacted call their local election officials right away.
"In that case, we'll be able to reissue you a ballot and flag the older ballot," said Michael Borja, who's part of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office.
However, if those impacted can't do that in time, it would be complicated for someone to vote with the stolen ballot.
"Somebody would have to know their signature. They would have to have a lot of other information in order to be able to vote fraudulently for somebody," said Dawn Kruger of the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder Elections Office.
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Borj added that each ballot is sorted, and each registrar's office has the signatures of each household.
Each ballot also has a barcode, so the elections office knows where it is each step of the way to getting to someone's mailbox.
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"There's lots of chain of custody rules that we have within our departments here and even in terms of working very closely with the post office to ensure that those ballots that go into the mail to get delivered where they're supposed to get delivered," Kruger said.
Officials emphasized that if someone has not yet received their ballot, they should call the local elections office to discuss their options.
Individuals can also check the Secretary of State's website to see if they are still getting it.
"The security around this process is extraordinary. California has one of the best procedures in place," said the Alameda Country registrar, Tim Dupuis.
