Was your ballot impacted? Voter drop box left unsecured at Fresno school for 7 hours

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County voters who used a drop box in Southeast Fresno will want to double-check that their ballots have been counted.

The Fresno County Elections Department says a key for the drop box at Fancher Elementary School was left in the lock for over seven hours, leaving the box unsecured with the chance for ballots to be stolen.

Someone found the key at 5:30 pm on Thursday. Officials said it was left in the lock after the box was last serviced at 10 am earlier that day.

Officials say the key and what was inside the drop box were recovered.

"The Fresno county clerk's office was made aware that a key had been left at a Fancher Creek elementary school ballot drop box -- it was actually left in the lock at the drop box," said Fresno Co. Registrar of Voters, James A. Kus.

Kus said there was no evidence that anything was taken and there were about 50 ballots in the box.

Workers have now replaced the box.

"Going forward we are actually going to implement new procedures to ensure that keys aren't left in the box and that the boxes are even more secure, we have additional, physical security that we are implementing on the boxes themselves," said Kus.

Anyone who dropped a ballot off in this box on Thursday should contact the Fresno County Elections Department to ensure their ballot was received.

The two-person team involved in this incident has been relieved of their ballot drop box servicing duties.

The County Clerk/Registrar of Voters says all other drop box servicing teams will now receive additional training and, effective immediately, will be required to capture photographic records to show that boxes are locked and keys are accounted for.

Officials added this is the first time since they started using ballot drop boxes in 2019 that one has been left unsecured.

You can track your ballot online here.