California county discovers trove of unopened ballots from last election in a locked box
Key takeaways
- The Humboldt County Office of Elections made an unnerving discovery Monday — a stack of 596 sealed ballots from the most recent election left at the bottom of a locked voting drop box.
- The stash of uncounted ballots would not have affected the outcome of the November 2025 statewide special election for Proposition 50, the county election office said in a news release Wednesday.
- The office discovered that the ballots were uncounted due to a staff error.
Humboldt elections officials say nearly 600 ballots were not counted due to an error by staff. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) By Clara Harter Staff Writer Follow May 6, 2026 7 PM PT 4 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X Linked In Threads Reddit Whats App Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
The Humboldt County Office of Elections made an unnerving discovery Monday — a stack of 596 sealed ballots from the most recent election left at the bottom of a locked voting drop box.
The stash of uncounted ballots would not have affected the outcome of the November 2025 statewide special election for Proposition 50, the county election office said in a news release Wednesday. However, officials said they’re working hard to have all the votes legally counted.