LIHUE — Brett Woods and his wife typically vote using the absentee ballot option. But they knew something wasn’t quite right when they got a call from the Kauai County Elections Division.
“My wife and I always vote absentee,” said Brett Woods, of Kapaa. “This year we were wondering, where were our ballots?”
They never received them in their mailbox. So when the couple heard from the elections division that the office had received the unsigned ballots, they knew something was wrong. They were told to come to the office to sign them.
“I said I’d be right in,” Woods said. “I picked up a manila envelope from my bank on the way in and showed the election people my identification, and when they presented the ballot for signing, I said I was going to put it into the envelope for an investigation into voter fraud.”
Woods wanted to protect the document so police could get fingerprints and other possible evidence. But election officials said he wasn’t allowed to take a “mail in” ballot out of the office. He was told new ballots would be printed for him to complete, instead.
“The elections office staff was polite and said they would investigate it,” Woods said. “They kept trying to minimize it and I was pretty upset because this is big deal when people start stealing absentee ballots.”
The Woods have not had an issue in the past with lost mail. Woods was concerned that if this isn’t an isolated incident, there might be more victims. He wants people who expected an absentee ballot, but have not received it, to contact county elections to see if it was sent.
“The only reason I knew about this was that whoever stole the ballot forgot to forge my signature,” he added. “This is mail theft and that is a felony. It is also interfering with an election, which is also a felony.”
Wood has since contacted the Federal Postal Inspector and owner of the private mailbox. He was assured by both that they would cooperate with any investigation.
“It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out,” Woods said.
The chain of custody goes from the elections office, to the post office, and to his UPS mailbox. The couple has filed a report with the Kauai Police Department. No other information was provided about the case. Requests for comment from KPD and the elections office were not returned.
