A former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier in Utah has been indicted on federal charges after prosecutors say he threw roughly 300 mail-in primary ballots into a dumpster in a church parking lot rather than deliver them.

Damon Matai Seei, 34, of Payson, Utah, was indicted on one count of unlawful secretion, destruction and delay of mail, a federal offense. According to a government memo, Seei told investigators he wanted to "lighten his workload" by tossing out what he considered advertisements, and that he did not have a political motive.

The ballots were intended for Eagle Mountain residents to vote in a June 23, 2026, primary election, months before the discovery of the discarded mail triggered a federal investigation.

A High-Profile Rollout

The Justice Department gave the arrest an unusually prominent platform, with Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter telling reporters the prosecution "showed voting fraud is real," according to reporting on the announcement. The case arrives as the administration steps up its search for examples of mail-voting fraud ahead of the midterms, after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a new Postal Service rule that would have limited mail voting nationwide.

IT SHOWED VOTING FRAUD IS REAL.

Voting rights advocates have pushed back on the framing, noting that isolated cases of mail mishandling — while serious individually — are not evidence of coordinated fraud, and that Utah election officials use ballot-tracking systems designed to catch exactly this kind of incident.

Seei faces prosecution in federal court in Utah; destruction of mail can carry significant prison time under federal law if he is convicted. The case is expected to feature prominently in the administration's public messaging as the fight over mail-in voting rules continues heading into November's elections.