SPOKANE, Wash. — A Spokane man found 26 ballots on the side of the road on Thursday. Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton confirmed the ballots were real when the community member returned them on Friday.
Scott Kusel said he found the ballots along the side of Greene Street Thursday evening, and he sent NonStop Local KHQ pictures and video of the discarded ballots.
Dalton said Friday that the ballots were delivered to USPS on Tuesday for the April 23 special election. All 26 ballots belonged to voters who live on three streets near Spokane Community College, and all were from the same zip code.
Elections officials notified USPS to start the process of figuring out what exactly happened. Dalton said the office would send out new ballots to those voters on Friday.
Kusel said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the envelopes on the side of the road.
“I stopped just because I was curious, I didn’t want to drive by and say, ‘I thought those were ballots.’ No, I wanted to make sure they were, because if they were ballots, on the ground, that’s important,” Kusel said. “They shouldn’t be there.”
He said he has broad concerns about election safety, but he doesn’t think this was a result of a malicious act.
“I mean, I’ve got my opinions on the security of elections and all those things, but I don’t think this was security related, I just think this was mistakes,” Kusel said.
Dalton applauded Kusel for finding and returning the ballots.
“I appreciate that this local resident made the effort to identify a problem, to reach out to us, and then follow through by bringing us the envelopes,” Dalton said in an email. “His diligence, integrity and sense of community means that 26 voters have a second chance to cast their ballot.”
