Contra Costa County election officials have confirmed that ballots deposited into a drop box located at Richmond City Hall on Oct. 12 have gone missing.
Scott Konopasek, Contra Costa’s assistant registrar of voters, said Thursday that county officials do not know why “dozens, max” of ballots that were placed in the drop box at Richmond City Hall cannot be accounted for.
Konopasek said a two-person team from his office collected 84 ballots from that drop box on Oct. 12, a pick-up that happens six days a week.
“We are aware of reports by dozens of voters, and claims on social media, that they deposited their ballot into the Richmond City Hall drop box on Oct. 12 and the county has not been able to confirm receipt of the ballot,” Konopasek said.
He said the ballots could have been improperly processed and are not showing up as having been received.
“This is something that happened and we don’t know why it happened … but we’re making sure the voters get to vote,” Konopasek said.
His office found about 40 of those voters through “sleuthing” phone numbers and Nextdoor social media posts, he said. Those voters were able to take advantage of various ways to recast their ballots. “We’ve re-mailed ballots to most of them, and then others we’ve told how to vote in person between now and Election Day.”
But Konopasek said he does not know if all the voters whose ballots may have disappeared from that drop box on Oct. 12 know their ballot went missing.