Election worker fired after completed ballots fell off truck in Florida

(The Hill) — An election worker in Florida was fired after a sealed bin and sealed bag of ballots fell off a truck, according to local election officials. 

The Miami-Dade County Elections Department said on Tuesday that the election worker forgot to lock the back of the truck and “as they drove off, one sealed bin and one sealed bag fell out, containing already voted ballots from early voting.” 

The Miami-Dade County Elections Department stated that the Monday incident occurred due to “human error” 

“Upon arrival at the police department, elections staff verified all seals were intact and nothing was tampered with or damaged," the county election department said in a statement. “Once at Elections Headquarters, all items were accounted for and all seals were once again verified."

Christina White, the county’s elections supervisor, said that the ballots were already scanned and tabulated at a South Dade Regional Library’s early-voting place, The Miami Herald reported. 

Based on the video posted by OnlyInDade, a driver passing by noticed the bag and the bin near Turnpike Extension in Cutler Bay. The county election department said the resident “did the right thing” by taking the ballots to the police. 

“While unintentional, the Elections Department has a zero tolerance for error and therefore the employee was terminated,” The Miami-Dade County Elections Department said.