© iStockphoto/R Rob M Ferguson

A senior poll worker was arrested for stealing up to 75 ballots and elections data from a southern San Francisco polling place, but the ballots and electronic equipment were not recovered.

Karl Nicholas, an inspector who oversaw poll workers and three clerks on Election Day, was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department and charged with three felonies, police said.

The missing ballots and data were not recovered when the 50-year-old San Francisco resident was arrested at 1:12 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

Nicholas allegedly ran off with the ballots on Tuesday afternoon from a Knott Court polling place in the Crocker Amazon neighborhood, which is north of San Bruno Mountain.

Nicholas’s motives are unknown, and he has not been cooperating with police, San Francisco Elections Department chief John Arntz said Wednesday morning. "He hasn't been talking," he said at 10:15 a.m..

Nicholas was working on election day in exchange for a stipend, and he was not a permanent department employee, according to Arntz.

The 75 missing ballots could contain up to 375 voting cards.

The missing votes won’t affect any supervisorial races because the ballots were stolen from District 11. District 11 supervisor John Avalos is in the middle of a term and did not face reelection.

“It won’t affect any supervisors’ races, but if there’s a close measure then potentially it could have an effect,” Arntz said.

Nicholas was being held in San Francisco County Jail on Wednesday morning, according to San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman Lyn Tomioka.