Fairfax County Republican leaders are raising concerns about ballot privacy after discovering a hole punched in absentee ballots could reveal a voter’s decision.

The concern was first flagged by a voter in a social media media post. If a Fairfax County absentee ballot is inserted in its return envelope a certain way, a bubble can be seen through a hole punch.

If someone knows the order in which nominees are listed on the ballot and where the bubble is marked, they could know it’s for Republican Attorney General candidate Jason Miyares.

Fairfax County’s GOP chair Katie Gorka wrote to election officials about her concern about privacy. Gorka worries that postal workers in particular could see votes.

“The privacy of the ballot is sacrosanct & its a problem here. You don’t have privacy with this ballot,” Gorka said.

Fairfax County election tips are now giving tips on their website about how to properly secure the ballot.

“Simply refold that ballot the exact same way it came to you,” Sean Stewart of the Fairfax County Elections Office said.

Stewart says once voters open the envelope, line up the ballot with the privacy flap, insert the ballot with the Commonwealth of Virginia header at the top with the ballot facing you and insert the ballot straight down into the envelope.

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What might confuse voters is the Virginia header at the top. Fairfax County redesigned its absentee ballots in 2021. The office got rid of the double envelope to save money and to stop wasting paper. The hole punch, better known as a tactile indicator, is one of the three methods required by law.

Gorka says she wants to see the double envelope return.

“Those ballots I think are deserving of protection,” Gorka said. “They are using huge amount of paper for all kinds of other issues. This one is important. This protects the privacy of the ballots.”

When News4 spoke to voters on Tuesday dropping off their absentee ballots, no one had a vote bubble peeking through the hole punch.

“I don’t have any worries that my ballot’s secure,” Billy Birdseye, a voter, said. “I don’t have any worries that my wife’s ballot is secure.”

Election officials emphasize that if voters use the ballot drop boxes, no one but the voter and election workers will see what their vote.

A person was arrested late Tuesday after ramming a vehicle into a Secret Service security checkpoint a few hundred feet from the White House, officials said.

A Secret Service spokesperson said the vehicle drove into the gate at 17th and E streets NW in Washington, D.C., at about 10:37 p.m. The suspect has not been named and so far there has been no suggestion of any motive nor whether the crash was intentional.

News agency images showed a black car having collided with a security checkpoint on the western side of the White House complex.

“The individual was immediately arrested by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers, and the vehicle was assessed by Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department and deemed safe,” the statement said.

In September a man was arrested after ramming his car into the gates of the FBI field office in Pittsburgh, in what the bureau called a targeted attack.

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The state of New Jersey is suing retail giant Amazon for allegedly violating the rights of pregnant workers and workers with disabilities in a systematic fashion at their warehouses.

In a criminal complaint released on Wednesday, Oct. 22, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and other state leaders explained that the alleged incidents happened in the company’s warehouses and shared examples of allegations.

According to officials, Amazon has a history of putting workers on leave without pay as the company reviews their requests for accommodations.

Meanwhile, a majority of requested accommodations are denied before Amazon reviews alternative solutions that could help the worker, officials said. According to investigators, the company often won’t respond to the worker and will leave them in the dark.

In some instances, the company allegedly fired a worker who requested the accommodation days or weeks after the request was submitted.

The state also accused Amazon of approving requested accommodations but then keeping their strict productivity requirements for that worker. This led to some employees facing termination by the company for not reaching set goals, according to the lawsuit.

Amazon is also accused of having an illegally short seven-day deadline for the worker to provide necessary documentation for their claims and shutting down the request before any action could be taken by the worker.

“There is no excuse for Amazon’s shameful treatment of pregnant workers and workers with disabilities. Amazon’s egregious conduct has caused enormous damage to pregnant workers and workers with disabilities in our state, and it must stop now,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.

Allegations of discrimination at NJ Amazon warehouses

There are at least five allegations of Amazon discriminating against pregnant workers and employees with disabilities at their New Jersey warehouses in the criminal complaint released on Wednesday.

In one case, officials said that a pregnant worker asked for a wheelchair before she was placed on unpaid leave while the company reviewed her request.

Another worker was told she would be “automatically placed under [a] leave of absence” because the place where she was working would be “unable to accommodate your restrictions.”

In a third instance, an employee told Amazon that they were struggling to lift heavy objects and had trouble “reaching for things [on] the highest shelf” due to a disability. Amazon is accused of firing this employee rather than assisting with an accommodation.

Another pregnant worker sought accommodation from Amazon to not lift heavy objects because she was “at a high risk of having a miscarriage,” according to the criminal complaint. In this case, the company allegedly closed out the request because the worker did not submit paperwork within Amazon’s seven day deadline.

In a fifth example, the lawsuit states that while Amazon approved a pregnant worker’s request for extra breaks and restricted her from picking up anything over 15 pounds, they later fired her after she was unable to meet the productivity numbers set by the company. The lawsuit states the employee couldn’t meet those productivity numbers due to her approved restrictions.

According to the criminal complaint, the state of New Jersey wants an injunction to stop Amazon from “discriminating against pregnant workers and workers with disabilities.” The state is hoping to compensation for the impacted workers “for lost wages and benefits, humiliation, emotional distress and mental pain and anguish caused by Amazon’s unlawful conduct.”

NBC10 reached out to Amazon for a response to the allegations. We will include a statement as soon as we receive one.

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