Humboldt County, California election officials discovered 596 sealed, uncounted ballots sitting inside a locked drop box six months after voters cast them in a statewide special election that approved a redistricting measure backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democrats.
The Humboldt County Office of Elections disclosed the discovery in a Wednesday press release, saying the ballots were found Monday inside a drop box that had not been fully emptied before election results were certified in November. The 596 ballots remained sealed and showed no signs of tampering, officials said.
The error stemmed from an election worker not following proper procedures. Humboldt County Clerk-Recorder and Registrar of Voters Juan Pablo Cervantes accepted responsibility in a written statement.
“While the mistake occurred after an election worker did not follow proper procedures, the responsibility for what happened ultimately sits with me,” Cervantes said. “I did not have strong enough controls in place to prevent this, but we do now.”
Cervantes said a new “lock out, tag out” procedure has been implemented for all ballot drop boxes, requiring each box to be physically verified as empty before election results are finalized.
The November 4 special election centered on Proposition 50, a redistricting ballot measure championed by Newsom and California Democrats. The measure passed, temporarily allowing the state Legislature to draw California’s congressional maps in place of the state’s independent redistricting commission. Those legislature-drawn maps are set to govern California’s congressional elections through 2030.
Officials said the 596 uncounted ballots would not have changed the outcome. No independent audit or outside review of the county’s procedures was announced.
The discovery arrives as California Democrats navigate competing pressures over redistricting. The Supreme Court recently narrowed Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a Louisiana redistricting case, a ruling that could allow Republican-led states to pursue new maps and put Democratic gains in California at risk.
Some Democrats have called on the state to redraw maps again ahead of the November 2026 midterms. California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks pushed back on those calls.
“We have yet to fully win the seats in the map that was drawn in 2025,” Hicks said. “It seems a step too far to say we’re going to go back to the drawing board and redraw the map.”
The ballots were discovered approximately six months after the election results were certified. Humboldt County officials offered no explanation for why the drop box was not checked sooner.
