Marie Claire: Ballot Drop Boxes: A Guide for the 2022 Midterm Elections

Although there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election—which has been confirmed again and again and again—limiting the use of ballot drop boxes has become the latest effort in the GOP’s attack on voting rights ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Ballot drop boxes are locked boxes often monitored by surveillance cameras or election workers during specified hours where voters can drop off their signed and sealed ballots. They were widely used in the 2020 election(opens in new tab) (and had been in use for many years prior) as an alternative to mailing absentee ballots in order to avoid USPS delays and voting in person to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The new drop box restrictions have become yet another form of voter suppression that will harm people across both political parties in the upcoming election cycle.

“It’s really creating two Americas,” says Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause. “One where your vote is attempted to be suppressed and one where you’re being provided with more access to the ballot.” …

The most drastic measure, however, was taken this summer by the conservative-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court. The state completely banned the use of ballot drop boxes—even drop boxes that were attached to the election clerk’s office—by stating that there was no specific statute that authorized the use of ballot drop boxes.

“This is designed specifically to make sure that many of the absentee ballots that are cast will not be counted simply because they didn’t get there in time or were not returned properly,” explains Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. “The calculation in Wisconsin by the Republicans is that more Democrats vote by absentee ballot overall than Republicans so they view it in their interests to be able to restrict how absentee ballots are returned. By getting rid of all the drop boxes, their calculation is that this will help them.”

It’s important to note, however, that vote by mail was equally used by both parties prior to the Republican party’s attack on voting by mail and ballot drop boxes.

Heck emphasizes that Wisconsin is a microcosm for the rest of the country. It was once a leader in high voter turnout(opens in new tab) and expanded access to the ballot prior to the very restrictive 2011 voter ID law(opens in new tab) and 2022 absentee ballot law that went into effect.(opens in new tab) “That’s why I say Wisconsin’s a microcosm because the calculation often is that if we can get away with doing this in a state like Wisconsin, which has a long tradition of open voting, then we can probably do this kind of thing in other states around the country,” says Heck. …

There are a lot of states that have expanded access to vote by mail since the 2020 election, which includes adding ballot drop boxes. Think: states in the northeast like Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Delaware. This is important as ballot drop box accessibility is key for everyone, but especially disabled voters and elderly people.

“Every voter has different experiences and different limitations, so providing as much access as possible is really the only way to actually meet all of the voters’ needs,” says Albert. …

Once you drop a ballot in a drop box, that ballot can be counted and there are no other security measures.

This is false. The ballots that come through drop boxes go through the same security checks as any ballot that comes through the mail. “Election officials will check, depending on your state, your signature, date of birth, or license number. They’re going to ensure that this person hasn’t voted already because if they’ve already voted that ballot’s going to be tossed,” explains Albert. “There’s a misconception that, ‘Oh, if a ballot’s in the ballot drop box that means it’s definitely going to be counted’ and no, security checks happen on all ballots.”