The L.A. County Registrar-Recorder’s Office took to X on Tuesday to address concerns raised on social media about potential local election fraud.
A photo shared Tuesday under the headline, “JUST IN: Multiple CA Ballots Found Inside LA County Library,” claims to show “multiple ballots inside of the libraries (sic) own safe, this is where the library keeps other things such as cash.”
The allegations and post were made by James O’Keefe, a self-described “guerrilla journalist,” with 3.5 million followers on the platform.
“This picture was taken (June 4). We are hopeful these ballots made it to the right processing centers,” the O’Keefe post stated, adding that if anyone has “any tips about election fraud,” they can contact his accounts.
The X account for the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk responded to the initial post about six hours later, in an attempt to explain the situation.
The ballots were not handed in — they were destroyed, according to the county.
“Those were ballots left/dropped at a library after hours on Election Day,” read the post attributed to the office’s verified X account. “The library was neither a drop box location nor a Vote Center. The ballots were retrieved and designated as no-count as they were not submitted timely to an official ballot return location.”
Mike Sanchez, spokesman for the office, was not immediately available to respond to a question about how many ballots were found, but the account went on to answer a few questions from an audience that appeared skeptical of the initial response.
“The point is they were never supposed to be there. So where else were ballots sent that they weren’t supposed to be?” wrote a user on Wednesday morning, as the thread continued to gain traction.
“Voters dropped them there after library hours,” the account replied Wednesday morning.
An account titled, “LA Parent Union” queried, “In the safe?” trying to ascertain where the ballots were left and then found.
“No. In a book drop or through a door slot,” according to the county registrar’s account. “The library secured them in the safe and contacted us for pickup. The ballots were not returned timely or at an official drop box/location. They were not counted.”
O’Keefe’s initial post asking the questions had reached approximately 750,000 impressions, receiving more than 10,000 shares. In comparison, the county’s initial response seeking to answer them still had about 93 shares and about 150,000 impressions, as of Thursday morning.
