The Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters is conducting an investigation after dozens of ballots that were dropped off in front of Richmond City Hall on Oct. 12 went missing.
“I can confirm 40 voters said they never ballots never made it to our office and there could be more voters out there,” said Scott Konopasek from the registrar’s office.
Election officials say the box was not tampered with and say 84 ballots picked up from the same drop box on the same day did make it to the Registrar of Voters' office .
“The ballots are emptied every day and picked up by two people. The ballots were picked up on Oct.12 and 13,” Konopasek said. “We can‘t explain why we don’t have the ballots dropped off in the ballot box.”
Some voters reported their ballots missing after using a new online vote tracking tool. Others complained on social media like the Nextdoor App.
County election officials say they have reached out to all those people and offered them a second ballot, but if their first ballot shows up, only one will count .
Marilyn Brooks had planned to drop off her ballot at Richmond City Hall but after hearing about the missing ballots she drove to Martinez .
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“This is the box that I want to be at after hearing about all that in Richmond. I am just not willing to take a chance,” she said.
Election officials say they plan to do a thorough investigation.
“I suspect it’s a handling error but we are absolutely committed to tracking it down,” Konopasek said.
