California police are investigating a man who reportedly had more than 300 unopened mail-in ballots for the upcoming gubernatorial recall election in his possession when he was found passed out in his car.
Torrance Police Department Sgt. Mark Ponegalek told ABC affiliate KABC this week that officers responded to a call on Aug. 16 of a man sleeping in his vehicle outside a 7-Eleven.
Ponegalek said police found a loaded firearm, drugs, stolen credit cards and driver’s licenses and more than 300 election ballots in the back seat of his car.
The city’s registrar’s office said the ballots had been sent out for next month’s recall election but hadn’t been filled out or returned by voters, KABC reported.
“The election ballots, they were un-tampered with, unopened, a little over 300 of them found, primarily from addresses in Lawndale,” Ponegalek told KABC.
Replacement ballots will be mailed to those individuals, police said.
Police later said the case is being investigated by the department’s Special Investigations Division, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s public integrity unit and the U.S. Postal Service.
Police did not release the name of the man, who was arrested on charges related to possession of weapons and narcotics and forgery violations, The Associated Press reported.
