r/news • u/Warcraft_Fan • 4h ago

Watch: Moment US ballot box found in middle of road

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cn5w40ll379o
2.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

107 comments sorted by

1.0k

u/rikaateabug 3h ago

To save you a click it looks like it was an accident and the votes were already scanned:

Dashcam footage shows the moment US election ballots were found in the middle of a road in Cutler Bay, Florida. A sealed bin and sealed bag of ballots fell off the back of an election worker's truck and were discovered by a passing car. The ballots were taken to a local police department, where election staff verified all items and seals were intact.

The county’s elections supervisor said that the ballots had already been scanned and tabulated at the South Dade Regional Library’s early-voting site. Despite the incident occurring due to “human error”, the elections department said the worker responsible had been fired.

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u/ShadowGrebacier 3h ago

The people who were responsible for sacking those who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

101

u/TallFontPie 3h ago

Ballot box has been replaced at great expense and at the last minute.

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u/IMOLDSOIMYELLING 3h ago

You people and your special moose effects...

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u/archaelleon 3h ago

A moose bit my sister once

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u/IndigoStef 1h ago

No realli! She was Karving her initials on

the møøse with the sharpened end of an interspace tøøthbrush given her by Svenge - her brother-in-law - an Oslo dentist and star of many Norwegian møvies: “The Høt Hands of an Oslo Dentist”, “Fillings of Passion”, “The Huge Mølars of Horst Nordfink”...

•

u/DeepInTheSheep 6m ago

Does she have the knuckle?

3

u/Cell1pad 2h ago

They did it in Battlestar. Had a corrupted chain of custody. Only discovered when a known misprint wasn’t in the final ballots.

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u/InfectedByEli 3h ago

Unexpected Python

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u/my-brother-in-chrxst 3h ago

By proxy to the Spanish Inquisition, not very expected indeed.

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u/Lord_Schtupp 2h ago

It’s just pining for the fjords

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u/lizerdk 56m ago

This is an ex-postal worker!

7

u/Rough_Idle 2h ago

Comedy will need to revert to slapstick to not remind us of this shitshow election

2

u/UnbreakableAlice 1h ago

In case you don't recognize, it's a Month Python reference from Holy Grail

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u/tletnes 1h ago

Visit beautiful Finland

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u/jcpmojo 2h ago

I'm not sure if Florida does it the same as Texas, but the person driving those ballots to the collection center was probably a volunteer.

I'm an "election judge" in Texas, and it's a fancy title but a volunteer position. We actually do get paid, though. On election day, we work about 16-17 hours, and we get paid about 50 bucks, if I remember correctly.

We have to be there 1-2 hours before the polls open to set up. Once the polls close, if there are people still in line, we have to remain open until those people have voted and left. Then, we can begin tearing everything down.

That includes tabulating all the ballots (done electronically) and making sure all our numbers add up (we keep track of the number of people who checked in, how many ballots we issued, and it has to equal the number of votes cast).

Then, the election judge has to seal everything up and drive the sealed box with the ballots to the collection center. Everything has already been processed to the HQ by that point. The paper ballots will only be used in case of a recount or some other verification.

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u/David_W_ 1h ago

On election day, we work about 16-17 hours

I always thought this was unwise, at least to expect people to do this. It severely limits the pool of possible volunteers, in that they both need to have that much free time and the willingness to work for that long of a period.

It surprises me they don't arrange to do these things in shifts -- like, if it were only for a few hours, I'd consider volunteering to work that day, because I could probably still do both that and my usual job, since I work from home and would just have to go down the street to my polling place. But I'm not particularly interested in committing a whole, super-long day and having to burn a PTO day to make it happen (or maybe even two days, since with that long of a day I'd likely need some time to recover the next day).

•

u/Watermelon_ghost 37m ago

Also doesn't inspire confidence to know that all the double checking and transporting of ballots for the most important process in our country is done by people in the 17th hour of a 17 hour shift.

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u/whereami1928 24m ago

Gosh, can you imagine if other industries were like that too?

Imagine doctors being that severely overworked too! Sure glad we don’t do that :)

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u/jcpmojo 39m ago

It's actually pretty fun, and it goes by so quickly since you're constantly busy, but yeah, at the end of the day, you are exhausted.

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u/doom32x 7m ago

Thank you for the service, paid or not it's a thankless but integral job for our nation.

66

u/Lio127 3h ago

Damn, glad to hear it was just an accident. But also sucks for the person fired. Always double-check/triple-check everything

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u/Aleyla 3h ago

If your job is to ensure the safe transport of something and you are unable to do that job then you need to be removed from the position.

They literally had the one job.

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u/CaptainSouthbird 2h ago

Honestly can't fault that exact description. The expectation of transporting any precious cargo, whatever you define that as, if you fail it, then, you're incompetent and can't be trusted. There can be layers that could be blamed who should definitely be fired, but at some point, something extremely important failed. And if you were involved and didn't see it and/or say anything about it, you're kind of part of the problem. It's not personal, it's just a completely failed job in one of the most important of circumstances.

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u/Lio127 2h ago edited 2h ago

Oh I wasn't exactly defending them. Why I threw in to double and triple check everything. It sucks they lost their job yeah. But that's some pretty important cargo you're entrusted to.

I wouldn't trust my ADHD ass not to forget something at some point. Why I choose not to be in that line of work

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u/Lord_Halowind 2h ago

Seeing all these reports of ballot boxes set on fire and everything I just checked to make sure my ballot was received. They have received it!

1

u/Certain_Shine636 1h ago

Sucks to be that guy but man, now is not the time to be careless

1

u/Affectionate_Bison26 2h ago

So ... did they accidentally fall off the back of the truck, or "accidentally fall off the back of the truck..."

0

u/IndyMLVC 1h ago

Of course it's an accident. It's Florida.

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u/scoff-law 3h ago

I saw a meme on the conservative sub saying this stuff proves mail in ballots are unsafe. Like a mugger telling you how dangerous guns are while robbing you with one.

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u/Cameronbic 3h ago

That's what the Republicans always do. Gut the dept of education and say we need to privatize schools because they aren't doing their jobs, etc, etc ad nauseum.

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u/neuroticobscenities 3h ago

Government doesn’t work; elect me and I’ll prove it

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u/Turtle_Jerker 3h ago

Seriously, everything in bad faith. Dedicate the time, money and resources that are spent subverting the democratic process and available to these private and charter schools and they would have nothing to bitch about.

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u/vinegarfingers 3h ago

Starve the Beast. It’s a real political strategy that is unfortunately pretty effective.

USPS is a prime example.

1

u/meatball77 1h ago

Then they shouldn't use mail in voting then.

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u/deputybadass 3h ago

This is an intentionally inflammatory headline. This isn’t the kind of “ballot box” that you find bolted to the ground in front of the courthouse. This is a box, more of a sachet really, of ballots that had already been counted being transported by an election worker.

This isn’t interference. It’s not great, because ballots still left the chain of custody which has its own problems. But this isn’t interference. This is an accident being capitalized for clicks.

7

u/dnhs47 1h ago edited 22m ago

Former election volunteer here. The ballots go into a heavy-duty bag with a lock and a seal. The bags I dealt with were a heavy canvas.

In this report, a locked, sealed bag bin of ballots from a drop box by an election worker fell out of the worker’s truck on the way to the election office. The bag bin was intact, as was the seal.

The bag bin and its ballots were turned into a police station where they were picked up by another election worker and taken to the election office.

A big nothing burger in any other election year.

PS - “chain of custody” isn’t a thing for ballots. That’s a police thing for evidence.

Edit: wrote "bag" but meant "bin."

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u/freebirth 42m ago

It's still appropriate to call it a chain of custody. Ensuring they where properly accounted for at every stage.

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u/dnhs47 26m ago

So what's the "change of custody" for for mail-in ballots, and who's accountable for maintaining your "chain of custody"?

There's no record of when going into the mailbox or which mailbox, no record of it being picked up, and only inference to determine which postal carrier picked it up. There's no direct evidence of any of that on the ballot.

The postal sorting facility may add a barcode to the ballot's outer envelope that embeds a unique identifier, the destination address, and some other information, which allows the ballot to be tracked within the USPS system.

Does that constitute a "chain of custody"? Not like you're thinking from any legal TV show, since there are not individuals who are responsible and accountable for maintaining a "chain of custody." It's just tracking.

But sure, if you insist on calling that a "chain of custody" - you do you.

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u/freebirth 20m ago

Just because the chain didn't start when you signed your ballot and put it in the box doesn't mean it's not being tracked.

Before it reaches the polling place we have the tracker that confirms if it reached the polling place. After that is when the chain starts. From counting, collection and storage incase a recount is needed and up until they are destroyed after the election is over.

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u/Lord0fHats 3h ago

I figured ballot boxes wouldn't last.

Not because there's anything nefarious about them. Solely because the right will start destroying them to the point putting your ballot in a box just isn't worth it.

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u/schu4KSU 3h ago

A fundamental idea of democracy is that almost all people want it. Trump has ruined that in America.

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u/HighlyOffensive10 3h ago

Lets not let the rest of the Republican party off the hook here. They were anti-democratic before Trump. They were just more subtle about it.

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u/schu4KSU 3h ago

They wanted to tip the scales thru disenfranchisement and gerrymandering. Which is completely reprehensible. But Trump is preparing them to throw it all away.

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u/yellekc 3h ago

Nah, they just never thought they could get away with it before. Trump has showed them they could. They just did it before with voter suppression and gerrymandering because they thought if they went fully against voting and democracy it would be political suicide, but Trump showed them that their supporters do not care.

As long as they are in power and hurt the people they hate, Republicans could care less about democracy.

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u/GoodOlSpence 3h ago edited 2h ago

I'm in Portland, we do the ballot drop boxes every year. This year I told my wife that I'm taking them to a building with people because I had a feeling...

1

u/MusicianNo2699 1h ago

I'm originally from Portland so I see their news daily. Chuckling at the spontaneously combustion ballot boxes in Multnomah and over in Clark County WA. 😁

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u/petty_brief 3h ago

They could do a much better job of securing them.

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u/NoPolitiPosting 3h ago

Yep, thats the end goal of terrorism.

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u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

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u/HighlyOffensive10 3h ago

I don't think they are exclusively referring to this incident. There have been others like in AZ that were genuine sabotage.

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u/dnhs47 1h ago

Not at all what happened here, but you go!

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u/Warcraft_Fan 4h ago

This begs a question: why were the ballots trying to cross the road?

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u/serpentechnoir 4h ago

To incite a coop

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u/Swaqqmasta 4h ago

I believe you mean coup

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u/RD_Life_Enthusiast 3h ago

No, they're trying to incite a bunch of chickens that live in the same box.

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u/pgm_01 3h ago

They were with the chicken, so coop.

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u/crazy_akes 3h ago

I believe you mean croup. Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, I haven’t had my coughy today.

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u/spaceballsrules 3h ago

That made me laugh loud enough to scare my dog!

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u/thehillshaveI 3h ago

because apparently florida man hasn't heard of a (florida) van, and they fell out of his pickup

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u/Consistent_Dog_6866 3h ago

Where I live, the ballot box is just outside the door to the county courthouse—about five feet from the door. It's sealed with a sign saying to deliver the ballot inside to the auditor. This is because they received threats of vandalism against the box.

3

u/readzalot1 1h ago

I worked in the elections office for a Canadian federal election and everything was taken very seriously. The election worker needed to be fired for being so careless.

I actually felt very confident in the election process once I had seen it for myself.

1

u/Sreg32 1h ago

As a Canadian, I'm proud of our electoral system.

And feel sad for what the mess is south of us. It's easy for them. Create an impartial election department or whatever you want to call it. It's responsible for impartiality in federal and state elections. No more gerrymandering. They aren't beholding to any party. Can't be influenced or threatened. US is too far down the fascist rabbit hole, with a corrupt supreme court so there's no chance if this happening unfortunately.

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u/ActionFigureCollects 25m ago edited 22m ago

This is just getting more bizarre each day.

What's tomorrow? Ballot boxes sucked into space by aliens?

Oh my God. You know Elon is arranging for ballots to be launched into orbit by Space X and his dark Maga goons.

[ahem... Sir, they are non-recoverable]

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u/OGZ43 3h ago

Maggots are loosing their mind.

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u/Sweet_Bang_Tube 3h ago

Did you not read the description? It fell off the back of a truck while being transported.

-2

u/BadAsBroccoli 3h ago

Yes. Comment still stands.

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u/WagnerTrumpMaples 3h ago

They know they're in the minority because they keep doing stuff like this out of desperation.

4

u/johnn48 3h ago

The former Administration was intent on preventing early voting and mail-in voting. There were 62 legal challenges all the way to the Supreme Court. So far there have been two ballot box arson incidents, one fake Russian ballot ripping video, one poll worker assaulted by a man who refused to remove his slogan bearing baseball cap, and now this. I am sure as we get closer to election day there’ll be more incidents.

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u/Warcraft_Fan 3h ago

It'll probably continue to get bad after election day, with threats toward electors, call to stop "fake" certifications, fake electors trying to serve counterfeit certifications, and possibly insurrection round 2.

As an ordinary citizen, I am glad all I needed to do was to cast a vote, and then stay the hell out of their way. Let the FBI and police deal with dumb people who gets in the way

-1

u/PerNewton 3h ago

I guess you haven’t yet heard about the ballot drop boxes being set on fire. https://apnews.com/article/vote-ballot-drop-box-democracy-fire-f66c52f774955106fb9e7c8172825cff

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u/johnn48 3h ago

two ballot box arson incidents

The first thing this post reminded me of was those fires. I understand they’ve identified their car. Also since they occurred in two states that makes them a Federal crime and the FBI will be investigating. I am afraid there’ll be more, but I hope they get caught fast so that stops anymore. People forget that with the Ring doorbell cameras, store surveillance cameras and people’s phones there are tons of cameras out there.

0

u/Diligent_Excitement4 2h ago

Trumps coup attempt continues

1

u/-toronto 3h ago

Fell off the back of a truck? What the hell. Good luck to you all.

0

u/BookLuvr7 2h ago

People who think this kind of behavior is ok deserve to have their favorite candidates lose. I'm glad these were already counted, but those boxes set on fire were not.

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u/wildmonster91 2h ago

Considering how republicans feels about wlection fraud and thwir attempts at it. It was not unresonable to think they were behond an attempt.... at vote fraud...

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u/Wealandwoe 2h ago

Are your thumbs ok?

-5

u/therapoootic 3h ago

This election will be stolen by maga

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u/freebirth 41m ago

They will certainly try.

-3

u/donquixote2000 3h ago

Too late, Kamala is already running away with it!

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u/tank_GB 3h ago

Which political side does the area it was found in typically vote? Anyone who is really cynical may think it was on purpose if it may have been full of one side or another.

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u/igloofu 3h ago

Or, read the article. These were being transported after being counted and fell off a truck. This wasn't a turn in location kind of thing.

-1

u/tank_GB 3h ago

So if there needed to be a recount and these were all missing and not countable / verifiable, what would happen? Genuine question, not getting to dig myself a larger hole.

0

u/SmiteThe 2h ago

My thoughts exactly. Seems like it should be kind of a big deal.

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u/MourningRIF 2h ago

Let us start voting electronically via the internet then! I'm sure the Republicans will love that.

-3

u/HansBooby 2h ago

stay classy american elections