The first Blue Lake Township Clerk Jeff Abram heard about it was Wednesday when a man came into the office, worried after hearing a local post office mailbox in Twin Lake had been tampered with.
“He said, ‘the post box was broken into over the weekend, and I mailed my ballot there and I just wanted to make sure you got it.’ I did not get it. I looked and I did not have it in the system.”
Abram spoiled the man’s ballot and issued him a new one, then called the postmaster in Twin Lake. He learned the box had been broken into between Saturday and Monday morning and there was no way to know what or how much had been taken.
Then, a woman walked into the clerk’s office, concerned.
“I did not receive her ballot, and she’d mailed hers over the weekend in that same box.”
He’s had lots of phone calls from residents since, asking about their ballots but so far, no others have been missing.
Voters can go online to the Michigan Voter Information Center to check if their absentee ballots have been received or Abram says:
“Feel free to call me. I can look in the system really easy to see if we have it or not. I’d rather spend the time looking for your ballot and make sure we received it because I do have time now to spoil it and issue you a new one. If we wait too much longer, I won’t have that flexibility any longer.”
He urges residents in nearby Dalton and Cedar Creek townships who may have used the Twin Lake box to check with their clerks too.
