JEFFERSONTOWN, Kentucky — Two of the voters whose ballots were recovered said they're grateful for the person who found them in the dumpster.
If these damp and weathered envelopes could talk Shirley Elliot wonders what story they'd tell.
Saturday, she and Mr. Elliot will fill in the final chapter.
“We will not mail them, we will drop them off at the polls,” Shirley said.
Their ballots were in that pile found by a contractor at this site in J-town about three miles from their home.
Shirley said she'd been on the phone with the clerk's office, growing worried her ballot had not yet arrived.
Then they learned of the discovery while watching the news.
"And then he goes out to get the mail and there it was the two ballots,” Shirley said.
Damp and stuck together, the Elliot’s gladly ushered the dumpster finds in from the cold.
This is only the second time they've voted absentee and the first was during the pandemic primary.
“I was in the hospital earlier this year, you never know when you get a little older you never know what's going to happen and maybe we wouldn't be able to get to the voting polls that's why we tried the absentee,” Shirley said. “I don't think I'll ever vote absentee again unless it’s absolutely necessary if you can get to the polls, go and this early voting I love because you don't have to have one day to vote you've got time."
WHAS11 Political Editor Chris Williams asked, “If you had a message for the person who found them in the dumpster, and reported it, what would you tell them?”
“Thank you so much! I'm just surprised that he found them being in the dumpster and working on a site like that It's just a surprise that he found them, but I am so thankful I really am…” Shirley said.