Missing ballots? Stolen signs? Election heats up along the coast

FORT BRAGG » Tensions are rising across the country as Election Day looms nearer, and the Coast is no exception. Some locals have reported there were some ballots stolen out of mailboxes and signs being stolen fromtheir front yards.

Signs do tend to get stolen every election season, though the penalties canbe severe if the thief (or thieves) are caught: Stealing political signs is a misdemeanor in most states, and the penalty is a fine and possibly up to a year of jail time. But the punishment gets worse if you steal a lot of signs; that could make it a grand larceny case, which is a felony that comes with more severe jail time and restitution payments.

Fort Bragg City Clerk June Lemos said that it’s not the first time signs have been stolen in Fort Bragg: “I know that signs tealing goes on because, in the 2018 election, signs were being dumped in storm drains,” she said. “It was just awful.”

The Fort Bragg Police Department did not return a request for comment on the issue. Lemos said if a political sign is placed on city property or on a public right- ofway, the city will send staff to remove it.

Perhaps more alarming are the reports of a handful of ballots in Little River being stolen from some mailboxes and dumped on the ground?

Katrina Bartolomie, Mendocino County Clerk-Recorder — and the lucky person who gets to count all of Mendocino’s ballots— said the incident occurred about a week ago and the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department told her they believe the ballots were incidental to the crime.

In short, someone was rifling through an apartment complex’s mailboxes looking for money and the ballots had just been mailed out. They simply got caught up in the dirty business and were not the target of the theft. The ballots had not yet been filled out, Bartolomie said.

“It sounds like some kids stole mail from a few mailboxes and they were looking for money,” she said. “There were only four or five ballots there and three of

there were on the ground. The Sheriffs had them delivered.”

While messing with political signs may be a misdemeanor— messing with ballots is definitely a felony, Bartolomie said.

Her advice? “Vote early. Use those drop boxes.”

The ballots dropped off in the secured, locked drop boxes along the coast are counted twice and have a strict chain of command, she said.

“We pick them up every other day, and as it gets closer to the election, it will be every day,” Bartolomie said. More than 8,000 ballots have already been received — and there’s still nearly two weeks to go.

For more information about political signs, visit Lemos’ website at https:// city. fortbragg.com/561/ Political- Signs.

For a list of ballot drop boxes in Mendocino County, visit Bartolomie’s website at www. mendocinocounty.org/ government/assessor- countyclerk-recorder- elections/ elections.