Pete Zanko didn’t know what he should do after finding three vote-by-mail ballots strewn across the sidewalk in East Village. He was on his way to watch a playoff baseball game when he spotted those ballots and other pieces of mail near the corner of 16th Street and F Street.
“If I saw a paycheck on the ground, I’d try to get it to the person,” Zanko said. “But with ballots, I just didn’t know what to do.”
Zanko says he called the non-emergency police line and was told to flag it on the city’s Get It Done app. He says the app acknowledged it but hasn’t resolved it. So he sent NBC 7 a photo.
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“If it was stolen mail, if it was just an accident, just a fluke accident, whatever it was, people still got to get their chance to vote,” Zanko said.
By the time NBC 7 Investigates visited East Village, the ballots were gone. We went to the address connected to the ballots, an apartment building four blocks away. We asked the leasing office how their tenants’ mail wound up on that sidewalk, but they told us no one had reported anything stolen. And one of the ballots in Zanko’s photo was addressed to someone who doesn’t even live there anymore.
Zanko wasn’t the only one to reach out to NBC 7 Investigates to get answers. Stacey Malay says no mail has been delivered to her cluster mailbox in her Bressi Ranch neighborhood for a couple of weeks. She says she talked to a Carlsbad postal worker who told her thieves disabled that mailbox while stealing mail.
It’s an issue NBC 7 Investigates reported on earlier this year, in that same neighborhood.
“It’s a big hassle. Very frustrating,” Malay told us. “In the group chat, at least six people have said they haven’t gotten their ballots either.”
With the election so near, she fears the loss of the ballots could dissuade her neighbors from voting at all.
“It’s a big concern,” Malay said. “Because I want everyone to vote. And people do mail-in ballots because it’s easy. You can sit at the table, look at all the things on the ballot, do your research, versus being there in person and having to bring your cheat sheet. Right? So I’m really concerned.”
A spokesperson for the USPS wouldn’t confirm the thefts, but told us, “The box unit was vandalized or broken and USPS is unable to deliver to unsecure boxes. We are holding the residents’ mail at the Post Office until repairs are completed. The box in question is being repaired. We had an issue with parts, but that seems to be resolved and the residents should be able to collect their mail securely from the box unit soon.”
What to do if your ballot vanishes
During the last presidential election, San Diego County’s Registrar of Voters says less than 12% of people who voted did so at a polling place.
“San Diego voters really appreciate the convenience of voting by mail,” Cynthia Paes said.
Decision 2024:
Paes says the county mailed out most ballots the week of Oct. 7. If you never got yours, she says you should report it as misplaced and request a new one, or vote in person. If you go in person, or if the county mails you a new ballot, the barcode on your original ballot will be suspended, meaning it won’t get counted.
And if someone other than you filled the missing one out and already dropped it off, Paes says if their signature doesn’t match yours, it won’t count.
“So it’s unlikely that a random person on the street picking up your ballot is going to be able to forge your signature,” Paes said.
You can also sign up to track your mail-in ballot. Just visit the San Diego County Registrar of Voters website.
And if you experience any difficulty voting or have concerns about your vote counting, you can send us a tip.
