A Utah mail carrier is facing federal charges after investigators say he threw away approximately 300 mail-in ballots in a parking lot garbage bin just days before the state’s June 23 primary election, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Damon Matai Seei, 34, told investigators he had no political motivation behind the act. He said he originally intended to discard junk mail and advertisements to reduce his workload but ended up tossing the ballots along with other pieces of mail in the process.
According to a government memo, Seei described his actions as a poor decision driven by frustration and laziness after feeling overwhelmed by his mail volume. He is no longer employed by the United States Postal Service.
Seei pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of destruction and delay of mail. His next scheduled court appearance is November 30.
U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak for the District of Utah noted that roughly 95 percent of voters in the state cast their ballots by mail. It remains unclear whether the affected voters were ultimately able to participate in the primary election which featured both Democratic and Republican candidates on the ballot.
The case comes as the Trump administration has made investigating voter fraud a stated priority. The Justice Department has filed approximately 70 voter fraud related cases during President Trump’s second term despite repeated difficulties producing evidence of widespread fraud. With at least 174 million registered voters across the country the scope of documented fraud cases remains extremely limited relative to the total electorate.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said additional cases are in the pipeline without offering a specific timeline. He reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to what he called protecting the votes of American citizens.
Voting rights experts have consistently noted that while isolated incidents of fraud and mail handling errors do occur they have not occurred at a scale capable of altering major election outcomes. The Supreme Court also recently declined to allow the Trump administration’s proposed restrictions on mail-in voting to take effect.
Democrats have responded to the administration’s election integrity push by launching what party officials describe as an unprecedented effort to defend the integrity of the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans are heading into those midterms facing significant political headwinds with polling showing majority disapproval of the president’s handling of the economy.