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There’s no denying that COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into the U.S. elections, upending Americans’ expectation that everyone will vote on the same day. Thankfully, we have safe alternatives to the traditional Election Day act of closing a curtain and pulling a lever at a polling place. Absentee voting, early voting and ballot drop boxes are tried-and-true tools that states can easily use so people can vote safely during this pandemic.
The problem is that Americans aren’t just dealing with a once-in-a-century pandemic. We are also faced with a president who is intent on undermining trust in our elections with false claims of voter fraud, and who creates partisan friction over non-partisan issues. While mail-in voting has primarily been in the president’s cross-hairs, another essential voter tool is under attack from the Trump administration: ballot drop boxes.
Specifically, the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania in an attempt to thwart the use of drop boxes. Unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump has also gone to Twitter to make his case.
“Some states use ‘drop boxes’ for the collection of Universal Mail-in Ballots,” the president tweeted on Aug. 17. “So who is going to ‘collect’ the Ballots, and what might be done to them prior to tabulation? A Rigged Election? So bad for our Country. Only Absentee Ballots acceptable!”
This assertion couldn’t be more wrong. Ballot drop boxes, like voting by mail, are a safe, secure and a time-tested way of collecting voter’s ballots.
These large metal steel containers provide an accessible location where voters can return their absentee or mail-in ballots directly to the local election administrators. Drop boxes have been in use for decades, particularly in Western states. These physically secure receptacles create a number of advantages for running safe elections — especially now, when the U.S. Postal Service is also under threat from the Trump administration.
Hand-delivering one’s own ballot instills voters with justified confidence that their vote has been cast, counted and isn’t lost in the ether. Additionally, drop boxes can be available around the clock, allowing voters to cast their ballots whenever it is convenient. During this pandemic, when avoiding crowds is key for protecting public health, more time to vote equals more space to vote safely.
Given these advantages, many states are making the smart move to provide voters with this option in the November election. Some states that are either accelerating or expanding the use of drop boxes include: Arizona; Iowa; Michigan; Kansas; Pennsylvania; Washington; California; Colorado; Illinois; Massachusetts; Wisconsin; Idaho; Georgia and South Carolina. To find a drop box near you, check with your state’s election officials.)
As for Trump’s specific concerns about who collects the ballots and what happens to them, his own administration provides the answer. The federal Elections Assistance Commission has clear recommendations on how states can safely and effectively utilize ballot drop boxes. These include:
• 24/7 video monitoring of drop boxes to ensure security.
• Bipartisan teams of election officials for ballot collection.
• A strict chain of custody procedures to ensure that only authorized elections officials ever handle ballots.
If clear recommendations from the federal agency tasked with helping states run elections aren’t enough to help states get ballot drop boxes right, we can look to existing state procedures to see that these programs work.
For example, Colorado not only keeps locked drop boxes under 24-hour video surveillance, it also has a bipartisan team of election officials who collect ballots at least once a day. These poll workers track custody of the ballots every step of the way, from the box to an official counting room. With such rigorous standards, it’s no surprise that 75% of all ballots in Colorado are returned via drop boxes — without any taint whatsoever of “rigged elections.”
So don’t be distracted by Trump’s Twitter rants or his administration’s frivolous, unwinnable lawsuits. Ballot drop boxes are a smart, socially distanced and secure way to give you a safe option to cast your ballot. When using a drop box, you can be confident that your vote will be counted and your voice will be heard.
Joe Ready is director of U.S. PIRG’s (Public Interest Research Group) Democracy for the People Campaign.
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