EDITORIAL: California offers cautionary tale about mail ballot security

Criminals go to great lengths to obtain things of value. That’s worth remembering with universal mail ballots.

This month, thieves stole crown jewels from the Louvre. The brazen daytime heist took place while the museum was open. The thieves drove a truck with an electric ladder up to the museum and entered through a window. They then smashed display cases containing crown jewels and stole several pieces connected to Napoleon. They escaped on motorbikes.

Despite all of the attention this crime received, there has been little discussion of the motive. That’s because it’s obvious. The jewels, even if the thieves have to recut them, are worth an immense amount of money.

But there’s something worth even more than Napoleonic crown jewels — government power. Many local governments control budgets in the billions. For the federal government, it’s in the trillions. Politicians determine policies that affect millions of people. Elected officials select those who oversee these budgets and policies.

Yet many states, including Nevada, have relinquished control over the mail ballots that help determine who wins elections. What happened recently in California shows why that represents a security risk.

Officials in Sacramento County recently found nearly 100 ballots while cleaning up a homeless encampment. Law enforcement officials believe the ballots were stolen from mailboxes. The ballots were for California’s upcoming special election, which asks voters to approve a gerrymandering scheme to modify congressional district lines.

It doesn’t appear that there was an attempt to return the ballots. Officials say they have voided the ballots and mailed new ones to affected residents. But this situation reveals the chain-of-custody problems with universal mail ballots.

Mail ballots can be stolen. The Sacramento incident doesn’t appear to be an organized effort, and it’s a positive these ballots were found. But there’s no telling how many ballots are stolen and never found. Particularly given that this is a special election. Many voters likely aren’t expecting a ballot and wouldn’t realize it was missing.

It is also possible for someone to illegally obtain and return a significant number of mail ballots. Signature verification is a deeply flawed security measure.

Mail ballot defenders argue there’s no evidence of widespread fraud. Not yet, anyway. But universal mail ballots make such shenanigans more likely. It’s one thing to make voting more convenient by allowing voters to request a mail ballot. It’s another to mail thousands of unsolicited ballots to every registered voter with no idea whether they end up in the proper hands.

As the Sacramento fiasco shows, there is plenty of evidence that the crown jewels of American elections — ballots — are there for the taking.