SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco police have arrested a polling inspector on suspicion of stealing up to 75 ballots, a voting roster and other election materials in a bizarre heist.
Lt. Lyn Tomioka said Wednesday that 50-year-old Karl Bradfield Nicholas was arrested around 1 a.m. She said none of the ballot items has been recovered.
Director of Elections John Arntz says a polling inspector broke into the ballot-counting machine Tuesday afternoon and took off with the ballots and a memory pack that records the information from the ballots.
Arntz says the inspector also stole the cell phone of a teenage poll worker.
Police say Nicholas was booked on three felonies, including burglary. He's being held in the county jail.
A message left at a number listed for Nicholas in voter registration records was not immediately returned.
