With the midterm elections drawing near, and the most recent presidential election as contested as any in recent history, a key was mysteriously left in a drop box for mail-in ballots recently in LA County.
The voter who found the key, according to CBS News, immediately contacted the LA County Registrar’s office. But the damage was already done. Even if it were a simple mistake, the optics are not good, and the county board of elections is scrambling to make sure voters are confident in the election processes moving forward.
Voter in Woodland Hills finds both keys to ballot drop box in the locks when dropping off ballot. The voter did the right thing and called it in, an hour + later the keys were still in the same spot.
“Safe and secure” while “saving democracy” is how we do it here in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/dxeRA6ItT5
— PXP Security & Inves (@PXPSecurityInve) November 2, 2022
An article from Red State shows an interaction between the voter who found the key and a person from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Records Office. During the exchange, two important things are revealed. The first is that about an hour after reporting the key being found in the drop box, it was still there.
The second revelation is that librarians in LA County seem to hold a higher position as voting safety and security gatekeepers than was previously known.
Voter in Woodland Hills finds both keys to ballot drop box in the locks when dropping off ballot. The voter did the right thing and called it in, an hour + later the keys were still in the same spot. pic.twitter.com/qA2jIYiS1P
— STREET PEOPLE OF LOS ANGELES (@streetpeopleLA) November 1, 2022
At the same time, however, Los Angeles County is still “trying to figure out how keys to an official ballot drop-off box were left inside the lock Tuesday.”
Even today, there is no indication of why, how, or by whom this key was left in the drop box, and incidents like these will continue to fuel speculation that elections are not as secure, safe and fair as the government wants people to believe.
