A Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections employee has been fired after a ballot bin and bag fell off the worker's truck and was found by a passerby in an incident that was caught on camera.
Video posted by Only in Dade showed the passerby finding the items near the Florida's Turnpike and 211th Street in Cutler Bay.
"That's sealed, look at that," a man says in the video. "That's crazy."
Later in the video, the items are seen being turned in to Miami-Dade Police.
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Last night, an individual came across a box full of ballots and other documents on exit 11 of the Turnpike, at the intersection of 211th St. in Cutler Bay. He immediately picked them up and took them to the police station, where they have been properly secured. No information yet… pic.twitter.com/HQP6glsm9b
— ONLY in DADE (@ONLYinDADE) October 29, 2024
The man who found the items, Lazaro Padron, said he was driving near South Dade Regional Library, which is an early voting site, when he noticed the bin and bag in the middle of the road.
"I was really surprised, I never thought I was gonna find that," Padron told NBC6. "I talked to the Department of Homeland Security and the boss from the elections and they talked to me and congratulated me for what I did."
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Miami-Dade's deputy supervisor of elections Roberto Rodriguez called it "human error," saying the worker forgot to lock the back of the truck and as they drove off, the sealed bin and sealed bag fell out.
The bin and bag contained already voted ballots from early voting, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the person who saw the items fall from the truck turned them in to police, and elections staff verified that all seals were intact and nothing was tampered with or damaged.
"We were able to verify that both the bin and the bag were both sealed, and we confirmed that nothing was tampered with," Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Christina White said. "I do want our voters to know that this was a very isolated incident."
Rodriguez added that while the incident was unintentional, the department has zero tolerance for error and the employee was fired.
