Over 300 California Recall Election Ballots Found in Passed Out Man's Car

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Police in California are investigating why a man found passed out in a vehicle was in possession of more than 300 unopened recall election vote-by-mail ballots. The suspect, who has not been identified, was discovered by Torrance Police inside a vehicle at a 7-Eleven parking lot on August 16. As well as the ballots, officers also found Xanax pills on the suspect, a loaded firearm, thousands of other pieces of mail, a scale, and multiple California driver's licenses and credit cards in other people's names.

The suspect was arrested on several weapons, narcotics and forgery charges. Giving an update on the investigation, Torrance Police confirmed that there were hundreds of ballots for the September 14 gubernatorial recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom among the thousands of pieces of stolen mail found in the car. Officers are now trying to determine how and why the suspect was in possession of the ballots, but confirmed the incident is not tied to any additional thefts of election ballots.

"Investigators are trying to figure out how the election ballots ended up in the suspect's vehicle and what their intent was in having them," Torrance Police said in a statement. "In the meantime, those who were identified through this investigation will be receiving a new election ballot." Speaking to KABC, Sgt. Mark Ponegalek, with the Torrance Police Department, said some of the ballots were in a box, but were also "kind of strewn across the backseat" of the vehicle. "The election ballots, they were un-tampered with, unopened, a little over 300 of them found, primarily from addresses in Lawndale," Ponegalek said. "There were some from Compton.

"We're still trying to figure out where all these belonged to at this time so we're working with the Los Angeles [county] election office as well as the U.S. Postal Inspector." The Los Angeles County Registrar's confirmed that the recall election ballots had been sent out but not returned by voters. Officials said there is no indication the ballots were taken in an attempt to influence the result of the upcoming recall vote.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/california-police-find-300-recall-election-ballots-suspect-vehicle-gavin-newsom-1622339

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I just heard this on my local radio news (CBS affiliate).

[sdfernando]

1. Probably stealing mail

To get checks but of course can’t say for sure.

[Ray Bruns]

6. probably an addict stealing mail to get checks

and drugs. The gun was most disturbing part. Why do you need a a gun to steal mail?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

10. Maybe he lives in his car? (nt)

[Polybius]

19. How to you cash a check that's not signed to you?

My guess is he was probably looking for cash. You'd be surprised how many people send cash.

[SeattleVet]

21. It's relatively easy to 'wash' a check and change whatever they want.

[Sanity Claws]

7. This isn't general mail

Just ballots. Seem to be taken from drop-off ballot boxes in Compton and Lawndale. Both are heavily democratic areas.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

8. Where are you seeing that?

Torrance Police confirmed that there were hundreds of ballots for the September 14 gubernatorial recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom among the thousands of pieces of stolen mail found in the car.

[Sanity Claws]

11. I skimmed the article and didn't see any reference to other stolen mail in the car.

Sorry.

[flamingdem]

2. Creepy

Who is behind this?

[SoCalDavidS]

3. I'm Confident This Will Get Swept Under The Rug

I hope that enough people vote for Newsom, so whatever the repubs are trying to jig up, is unsuccessful.

I'm sure he just found them laying around.

Nothing to see here, move along.

[onecaliberal]

4. 5 no's in my house.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

18. Your confidence is unfounded. As the OP stated, she heard the story broadcast on his local

CBS affilialite. That's KYW, a 50,000 clear-channel station that is heard across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic sections of the United States, as well as eastern Canada.

{edited: "she," not "he." I knew that too. I don't know how come I forgot.}

KYW (AM)

KYW (1060 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest radio stations in America, originating in Chicago and moving to Philadelphia in 1934. KYW's unusual history includes its call sign of only three letters, beginning with a K, rare for a station in the east. It broadcasts an all-news radio format and, due to its simulcast on WPHI-FM, is branded as "KYW Newsradio." KYW serves as the flagship station of Audacy, Inc. KYW's studios are co-located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City, Philadelphia, and its transmitter and two-tower directional antenna array are located in Lafayette Hill.

KYW is a 50,000–watt Class A clear channel station. With a good radio receiver, its nighttime signal can be heard in much of the Eastern United States and Eastern Canada. But it restricts its signal to the southwest to protect XEEP in Mexico City, which shares Class A status on AM 1060. It is also restricted to the northeast to protect WEPN in New York City, another 50,000–watt station, only one dial position away at AM 1050. The station's programming is also available via a simulcast on sister station 103.9 WPHI-FM and the HD2 subchannel of sister station 94.1 WIP-FM.

{snip}

[BumRushDaShow]

22. LOL

I'm gonna embarrass you -it's "she heard".

(yes I am, after all this time )

[mahatmakanejeeves]

23. I knew that too. You've mentioned it before.

For some reason, it escaped my memory.

Things like this seem to happen all the time now, though. Car keys, TV remote, the cup of coffee I JUST got out of the microwave.

I'm chalking it up to old age.

Sorry.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. ....

[Random Boomer]

25. Not everything is a conspiracy

The man stole mail and the ballots were part of the haul. As numerous posters have mentioned, it's more likely he was after any cash or checks he could find.

[captain queeg]

5. I had mail stolen years ago. Found in a stolen car with a lot of other stolen mail.

The Sheriff told me people would go around stealing mail. They often weren’t smart enough to use it themselves but would sell it to others who would capitalize on it. First experience trying to clean up identity theft. Nothing happened that time other than a huge pain in the ass getting new accounts and cards.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

9. I'm also betting it's a mail/identity thief and the ballots are incidental

Torrance Police confirmed that there were hundreds of ballots for the September 14 gubernatorial recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom among the thousands of pieces of stolen mail found in the car.

Says he also had credit cards in other people's names.

Ballots will have a fair bit of personal info on them.

[SoCalDavidS]

12. How Does One Get Their Hands On Thousands Of Pieces Of Mail?

Just wondering.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. Could be they were able to break into one of those mail consolidation boxes

where the carriers would collect the contents from the slotted blue boxes and put them into a sack, and then store them in a different box for pickup by a truck.

Did a quick search and they call them "relay boxes" (they don't have a slot). For some reason I used to remember back in the day when they were dark brown (at least around here) but I guess they are dark green now.

[RussBLib]

13. who thinks the GOP will try to stuff the ballot box to unseat Newsome?

I do! They accuse the Dems of voter fraud so much because they are up to their eyeballs in it.

[AllaN01Bear]

15. i was just going to remark on that.

[KS Toronado]

16. We know they will, it's their standard MO

[bucolic_frolic]

17. A plant to "prove" election cheating

With all the other charges, this guy is not the type to give one hoot about elections, on either side.

[BootinUp]

20. It would take more than 300

To change this one.