Hundreds of ballots were discovered sitting in an open hallway at The Midnight Mission, a downtown Los Angeles homeless shelter where more than 1,100 voters are registered, according to an investigation by the California Post.
The shelter, located at 601 South San Pedro Street on Skid Row, offers meals and mail services and has 1,160 registered voters tied to its address. The California Post said it authenticated a photo of the ballots and independently confirmed the scene during a visit to the shelter on October 13.
The find comes four months after the California Post reported that 7,600 voter registrations across Los Angeles were linked to homeless shelters and service providers, some of which don’t offer a single bed.
The Midnight Mission said election ballots are supposed to stay locked up until they reach the people they’re addressed to. Georgia Hawley, the organization’s chief communications officer, told the California Post the shelter’s standard procedure is to keep ballots secured behind locked doors until distribution.
“I personally confirmed that ballots were being stored securely when I visited our mail center,” Hawley said.
Hawley said the shelter handles large volumes of mail for homeless residents and that limited mailroom space means deliveries have to be received, sorted and handed out throughout the day.
The California Post said it asked U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli whether federal authorities were looking into election ballots on Skid Row. Essayli confirmed an investigation is underway but did not comment specifically on The Midnight Mission.
Candidate and Advocates React
Scott Meyers, a Republican attorney running for Congress in California’s 30th District, criticized how election mail is being handled, faulting both the U.S. Postal Service and the organizations responsible for receiving and distributing ballots.
“We’re treating ballots like junk mail,” Meyers said.
Meyers pointed to photos of ballots left unattended in apartment building lobbies as evidence the problem goes well beyond homeless shelters, and he placed the blame on the Postal Service for failing to safeguard ballots.
“These are pieces of gold. This is our democracy,” he said.
Nico Ruderman, a Venice Neighborhood Council member and former candidate who has repeatedly observed election procedures at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office, said the discovery was disappointing but not surprising.
“Even if there is no fraud, there is a perception,” Ruderman said. “If people don’t trust their elections, they’re not going to vote.”
Ruderman is calling for a ballot initiative to overhaul California’s election laws, arguing that public confidence matters even when no wrongdoing has been proven.
“We need massive election reform, even if there is nothing nefarious going on,” he said. “Election reform eliminates doubts.”
Part of a Broader Pattern
The latest discovery follows the California Post’s June investigation into thousands of voter registrations tied to homeless shelters and service providers across Los Angeles, including drop-in centers that offer services but no overnight beds. At St. Joseph Center in Venice, the outlet identified 185 registered voters tied to a drop-in facility with no beds at all.
Local resident Susan Collins accused political activists of exploiting homeless voters through California’s ballot collection laws, alleging that “ballot harvesting has been abused, in particular by the DSA,” a reference to the Democratic Socialists of America.
California law allows voters to authorize someone else to return their completed mail ballots, as long as state election rules are followed. Election law attorney Garrett Fahy has said allowing homeless residents to register using shelters and other nontraditional addresses reflects the state’s effort to protect voting access.
“The system is not set up to prevent people from voting. It’s to ensure anyone who can register votes,” Fahy said.
