Police in Michigan are investigating the discovery of roughly 300 absentee ballots from the 2020 election that were found in a storage locker.

The ballots were discovered in a storage locker in Thetford Township in August 2022 but just disclosed after the town’s supervisor, Rachel Stanke, filed a freedom of information request and discussed the findings at a municipal meeting this week. The ballots, which were found in a locker owned by the deputy town clerk, appear to mostly be spoiled ballots, Michigan State Police said. 

Stanke, who was tipped off in 2021 that some absentee ballots might be missing, said that it was important to bring the discovery to light so citizens could trust future elections.

“That’s why I want to bring this to their attention,” she said, according to Michigan News Source. “And I want them to be able to make sure that their elections are run fairly and smoothly.”

With spoiled absentee ballots, voters could be sent a new one or go pick one up. “Say they didn’t receive their ballot or they lost it or their dog ate it. They would have to come into the township and write a letter I believe show their ID and be issued a new ballot,” Stanke said. 

The Michigan attorney general’s office will decide if any criminal charges need to be filed or if any laws were broken, according to ABC 12 News. The investigation by Michigan State Police is still ongoing. 

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Stanke said that the ballots had been accidentally stored at the facility by a former city employee. 

“She was not aware when she was asked to store them in there. She thought they were old township documents,” she said. 

Members of the community want assurances that there will be more oversight about how and where ballots are stored. 

“Now this is all coming out and … I’m kind of happy that it’s coming out because the election is right around the corner again,” said Katie Hicks, a candidate for township clerk in 2020 who lost by just 19 votes. “And it concerns me that this will take place again for 2024.”

Thetford Township, a town of about 7,000 people, is located just north of Flint, Michigan. 

Four children who were missing after a plane crash in Colombia were found alive and rescued after 40 days alone. 

The children who ranged in age from just 11 months to 13 years old were found in a remote area of the Amazon jungle in Colombia after surviving storms and avoiding dangerous animals and rebel soldiers. A plane carrying the children, their mother, and two other adults had crashed on May 1, killing everyone but the children. 

“They’ve given us an example of total survival that will go down in history,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro. “A joy for the whole country!”

#GeneralGiraldo: "La unión de esfuerzos hizo posible esta alegría para Colombia"

Gloria a los soldados de las @FuerzasMilCol, a las comunidades indígenas e instituciones que hicieron parte de la #OperaciónEsperanza" pic.twitter.com/LO3BPldLgD

— Fuerzas Militares de Colombia (@FuerzasMilCol) June 10, 2023

“Their learning from indigenous families and their learning of living in the jungle has saved them,” Petro said of the children, who are ethnically Huitoto. “They are children of the jungle and now they are children of Colombia.”

The rescued children were: Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13,  Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy, just 11 months old. 

Rescuers were sent out after the pilot of the plane issued a call for help due to engine failure. Rescuers found the bodies of the adults, but the children were gone leaving only footprints and other small signs of life. 

For days following the crash, a team combed over a jungle area of about 125 square miles. The team included 150 soldiers and 200 locals, according to the Guardian. 

“This isn’t a needle in a haystack, it’s a tiny flea in a rug because they keep moving,” said Brigadier General Pedro Sanchez “But if, God forbid, they were dead we would have already have found them, because they would be still.”

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Before the children were found, Sanchez said he had a “100% expectation” that his team would be able to rescue the children. 

On Friday, rescuers shouted “Miracle! Miracle! Miracle! Miracle!” as they found footprints that led them to the children. The children were then flown to a hospital for treatment.

“We hope that tomorrow they will be treated at the military hospital,” Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said after the discovery. 

María Fátima Valencia, the children’s grandmother said she was “going to hug all of them” and “thank everyone.” The family lives in Villavicencio, a city in central Colombia not far from Bogota. 

“I’m going to encourage them, I’m going to push them forward, I need them here,” she said.