Elk Grove voter guide dump now in hands of US Postal Service investigators

U.S. Postal Service investigators are now reviewing how bundles of Sacramento County voter information guides ended up in Elk Grove trash cans and recycling bins this week.

“We take very seriously any allegation of mishandling mail,” Kristina Uppal, a U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman said late Thursday, adding the postal service is “fully committed between now and the November election to the secure and timely delivery of the nation’s election mail.”

The incident is now in the hands of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Postal Service’s office of Inspector General, Uppal said.

Nearly 800 of the guides were found Tuesday in bins in Elk Grove neighborhoods, Sacramento County elections officials said, including six bound bundles of the brochures at the bottom of a tote in the city’s Bilby Ranch community. No ballots were included in the tossed bundles, county elections officials said.

Postal workers rounded up the dumped guides and mailed them Wednesday, but county voting and federal postal authorities say they aren’t taking the incident lightly.

Sacramento County elections officials on Thursday said they are working closely with local, state and federal officials and asked Sacramento County residents to report any suspicious activity to postal investigators at 877-876-2455.

Darrell Smith

The Sacramento Bee

916-321-1040

Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.