A grand jury in Utah indicted a former United States Postal Service carrier on allegations he unlawfully threw away mail he was assigned to deliver, including hundreds of mail-in ballots to registered voters.
Damon Matai Seei, 34, appeared for his arraignment on Sept. 22 at the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse on a charge of unlawful secretion, destruction and delay of mail, just over a week after a federal grand jury handed down its decision, U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah said.
"When the defendant allegedly threw away the mail he was entrusted to deliver, he also threw away the chance for those citizens to exercise their right to vote," Holyoak wrote in a news release. "Our office, along with our law enforcement partners,
takes these offenses seriously and will continue to investigate them to ensure justice is served for anyone whose constitutional right to vote has been infringed."
Seei, of Payson, a city in Utah County about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City, said he did not have a political agenda when he tossed more than 300 ballots into a church parking lot dumpster on June 3, court papers reviewed by USA TODAY show. At the time, Seei was working as a letter carrier delivering mail to nearly 300 Eagle Mountain residents living in District 50.
Several Eagle Mountain-area voters later complained to Utah County Clerk Aaron Davidson they never received their mail-in ballots, prompting an investigation. Authorities later learned 304 voters in District 50 "never received their mail-in ballots," court papers read.
In a written stateement, Seei told investigators he felt "overwhelmed” that day by the amount of mail he had to deliver, because the workload was heavier than usual so he decided to "get rid of advertisement mail” to quickly deliver everything else.
"He claimed not to be a very political person," prosecutors wrote in court filings. "He claimed not to have a political agenda and that he did not intend to disrupt any political process by discarding the mail. He claims he simply made a poor decision out of frustration and laziness.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Seei's attorney for comment.
Seei no longer works for USPS and is due back in court on Nov. 30, court documents and online records show.
"When American voters lawfully cast their vote, they should feel confident that it is counted," said Department of Justice Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter. "Allegedly throwing away hundreds of ballots is a serious federal crime that undermines the integrity of our elections. Ballot integrity is not a partisan issue."
How did the Supreme Court vote on mail-in ballots?
The plea came just over one week after the Supreme Court declined to let the Postal Service tighten the use of postal voting ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
President Donald Trump has pushed for greater federal control of elections, which are administered by states.
The Trump administration, which asked the high court to let the Postal Service tighten the use of mail-in ballots, wanted states provide voter lists to the Postal Service to check for fraud before delivering them.
Trump criticized the Supreme Court after it rejected his plan to keep mail-in ballots for the upcoming elections on hold, calling the justices' ruling "another bad decision" from the court that would make the country a "laughing stock."
"The Court’s inability and unwillingness to do the right thing for our Country will go down, in a very negative way," Trump wrote in a Sept. 15 post on Truth Social.
In unsubstantiated allegations, Trump continues to publicly assert the 2020 election was rigged. Even though Trump won back the White House in 2024, multiple court cases, experts and state audits have concluded former President Joe Biden beat Trump in the 2020 race.
Contributing: Bart Jansen and Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY
Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mail carrier indicted after allegedly tossing over 300 mail-in ballots
