An Oregon ballot seen in 2018.

A batch of stolen mail found abandoned on Bend’s north side included more than 20 unopened ballots, just weeks before the November election.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reported Friday it has recovered “a large amount of mail” including several unopened ballots on the side of the road near Hunnel and Loco roads.

All 23 ballots were returned to the Deschutes County Clerk’s Office to be reissued to the affected voters, the sheriff’s office said.

The mail was apparently taken from a large community mailbox. Sgt Jay Minton of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office said the incident was reported to authorities by a member of the public around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Minton said most of the mail came from the area of 94th Street, which runs between Tumalo Road and the Old Bend-Redmond Highway.

“All recovered ballots are unopened; however, other pieces of mail were opened and the contents appeared to be missing,” said Minton. “We don’t believe the ballots were the intended items to be stolen by the unknown suspect.”

Authorities are advising the public to check mailboxes daily and not allow mail to remain there overnight. Anyone who has not received a ballot by Wednesday is advised to contact Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison at 541-388-6547.