In suburban Milwaukee last week, the Washington County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $3,000 for video surveillance of drop boxes, should municipal clerks need the funds to tighten security.
Some officials went even further.
“Every citizen should have access to livestream of the camera and instructions for how to proceed if they see something suspicious,” said one supervisor, Linda Gurath.
Another supervisor, Tina Pridemore, wondered if someone could shove 20 ballots into a box at once, and said that she knew people who were willing to volunteer to stand near the drop boxes “to make sure that we’re not having this illegal voting,” she said.
A red drop box for ballots outside City Hall in Racine, Wis., on Oct. 11, 2024. (JAMIE KELTER DAVIS/The New York Times)
Beleaguered city clerks, nonpartisan officials who are responsible for deciding whether their municipalities should have drop boxes, have tried to reassure the public that the boxes are perfectly secure.
Around the state, some drop boxes are free-standing, bolted to the ground like mailboxes outside City Hall or on street corners. Others are built into the walls of municipal buildings, allowing voters to drop absentee ballots through a slot and directly inside, where they are then collected by workers and locked in a vault until Election Day. As of Wednesday, at least 78 boxes were in use, election officials said.
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