Santa Clara County Registrar Of Voters Investigates IT Chief's Sudden Resignation

SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) -- [UPDATE 11/14/14: Former IT director Joseph Le, who suddenly quit his job at the Registrar of Voters, tells KPIX 5 stress made him resign.]

Santa Clara County officials have launched an internal investigation into the sudden resignation of elections official Joseph Le. Authorities are on alert as he may have disappeared with a key piece of equipment.

To be clear, there is no criminal investigation of Le. But the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office was alerted to a potential situation involving Le by the Registrar of Voter's earlier this week. At this point, the sheriff's department is standing back, but monitoring what is still a county personnel matter.

Sources told KPIX 5 that when the Le, the IT director of the Registrar of Voters, abruptly quit on Election Day morning, he failed to turn in his county property including a badge, a cellphone and a computer hard drive.

The sheriff's office said the Registrar of Voters alerted law enforcement on Monday, and while the situation hasn't risen to the level of a criminal probe, it is being investigated by county counsel, labor relations, and the Registrar of Voters.

Neighbors at Le's Evergreen-area home said they have not seen him for several days, and he was not home Thursday afternoon.

Le has reportedly been in telephone contact with the registrar's office, although a source said he hasn't exactly made himself widely available.

The sheriff's office gave a "no comment" to KPIX 5 when asked about the potential of a missing hard drive. As IT manager, that hard drive would have been loaded with programs and information used to help Le do his job, which is to count votes.