DOJ Charges Former USPS Worker Accused of Dumping 300 Mail-In Ballots in Church Dumpster

A former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier has been charged after prosecutors say he dumped about 300 mail-in ballots in a Utah church parking lot instead of delivering them to voters ahead of the state’s June primary election.

Damon Matai Seei, 34, of Payson, Utah, was indicted on one count of unlawful secretion, destruction and delay of mail. A federal grand jury returned the indictment September 16, and it was unsealed Tuesday after Seei was arrested and appeared in federal court in Salt Lake City.

The alleged dumping occurred June 3 while Seei was covering a postal route in Eagle Mountain. Among the mail assigned to him were hundreds of ballots being sent to registered voters for Utah’s June 23 primary election. Prosecutors say he drove his postal vehicle to a church parking lot about 90 minutes after starting the route, stopped beside a dumpster and discarded mail there.

Several voters later complained to Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson that their ballots never arrived. After contacting registered voters in the affected area, Davidson calculated that about 304 people had not received their mail-in ballots, according to the government’s detention filing. Postal records showed Seei had been assigned to the route where the missing ballots were supposed to be delivered.

The ballots were on their way to voters rather than completed ballots being returned for counting. The alleged interference therefore occurred at the delivery stage of the election process, with the federal case centered on mail entrusted to a postal employee.

Federal law makes it a crime for a Postal Service employee to unlawfully hide, destroy, detain or delay mail placed in the worker’s custody. The law covers election mail along with other letters and packages and carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison. Prosecutors do not have to establish a political motive to bring the mail charge.

Prosecutors say Seei acknowledged discarding mail and told investigators he wanted to “lighten his workload.” According to the government’s filing, he said the volume of mail was heavier than usual and that he decided to throw away advertising mail so he could focus on the rest of his route.

Seei said he did not intend to discard ballots and described his decision as driven by frustration and laziness. He also told investigators he had no political agenda. Prosecutors said he had separated the ballots near the beginning of his shift and that postal records showed no indication he delivered them before going to the dumpster.

The Utah County clerk began looking into the missing ballots after voters reported they had not received them and found participation was unusually low in the affected portion of Utah House District 50. Federal officials were still determining whether the voters ultimately cast ballots through another method.

Seei is no longer employed by the Postal Service and pleaded not guilty Tuesday. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General and Homeland Security Investigations.

His next federal court appearance is scheduled for November 30 in Salt Lake City. The indictment contains allegations, and prosecutors would have to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.