KY postal worker fired, could be charged after more than 100 absentee ballots dumped
A postal worker in Kentucky who tried to dump 112 absentee ballots and two political mailers was fired by the U.S. Postal Service and could face federal prosecution.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General, the worker’s case was accepted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for federal prosecution after a citizen found “several different classes of mail” that were not delivered.
The discarded mail was discovered in a dumpster near Jeffersontown, WDRB reported.
The ballots were found Thursday morning and were delivered to the affected customers by the end of the day Thursday.
“I will point out that the vast majority of the Postal Service’s 630,000 employees are hard-working, trustworthy individuals who work around the clock to deliver the nation’s mail, and incidents of this nature are exceedingly rare when put into that context,” said Scott Balfour, a special agent with the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.
Nore Ghibaudy, a spokesman for Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, said the clerk was pleased the ballots were discovered and delivered.
“It is unfortunate that ballots and general mail was dumped by a disgruntled employee,” Ghibaudy said.
The clerk’s office had been preparing to send out new ballots to the voters, who had been calling with concern. Ghibaudy noted that if a requested ballot is not received by October 28, the voter can go to a vote center and vote in person. They would have to sign an affidavit that says they did not receive the ballot they requested.
The news comes at a time when voters are anxious about how their votes will be counted. President Donald Trump has raised questions about mail-in voting, but election experts say cases of voter fraud in mail-in ballots are rare.
The affected people lived in the 40299 zip code in Jefferson County. People can report crimes committed by postal employees to a hotline at 888-USPS-OIG or www.uspsoig.gov.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 12:40 PM.
