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Residents concerned their voting ballots are being stolen because they support medical marijuana initiative

Posted at 9:15 PM, Oct 29, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-29 23:18:13-04

DRAPER, Utah -- For the second time in two days, someone in the Salt Lake Valley believes their ballot was stolen from their mailbox because they are supporting Prop 2, the initiative to legalize medical marijuana.

“I’m mad at this point that someone would think that they have the right to come into my mailbox and take my voting ballot,” said Meagan McMullin of Draper.

After weeks of waiting, McMullin says her husband contacted the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office. Her neighbors already had ballots and they were concerned theirs had not arrived. The clerk’s office told them they had been mailed weeks prior. She now believes her ballot may have been stolen because she has a sign supporting Prop 2 in her front yard.

“We have that right to put a sign in front of our yard and to vote the way we want. We live in America, that’s the way it should be,” said McMullin.

She isn’t alone in feeling like a target for her support of proposition two. On Sunday morning, Harrison Doppelt says he put his ballot in his mailbox in front of his West Valley City home. When he came back, he saw the mailbox was open.

“Upon reviewing my security camera footage I spotted that white truck just went right through and took my ballot and took off,” says Doppelt.

He does have a sign supporting proposition two in his yard but didn’t immediately tie the mail thief to his support of medical marijuana. Concerned, he said he started asking neighbors if they had any problems with their ballots.

“After talking with my neighbors, we found out my neighbors next door, the only other people on the street with a Prop 2 sign also had the same thing happen to them,” said Doppelt.

According to the Utah Director of Elections, stolen ballots are rare but it does happen. If a voter has a concern about their ballot, they advise voters to call their county clerks. A new ballot can be issued or voters can go to the polls in person to cast their votes.