Where Can I Drop Off My Ballot in Maryland
The first wave of what will somewhen be hundreds of large ballot drop-off boxes are existence stationed beyond Maryland. What are they made of? Who's watching them? How safety will your ballot be?
Listen now to WTOP News WTOP.com | Alexa | Google Home | WTOP App | 103.5 FM
Courtesy Montgomery County Board
AP/Julio Cortez
Montgomery County Board of Elect
Courtesy Montgomery Canton Board
AP/Julio Cortez
What's in that large metal box? Presently, it could be your ballot.
Starting this week, the first wave of what will eventually exist hundreds of large ballot drib-off boxes are existence stationed across Maryland.
Last calendar month, the State Board of Elections approved the beginning big-calibration employ of the ballot drop-off boxes for the ballot every bit an alternative to sending completed ballots through the postal service. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many regular polling places are shuttered; and election officials are urging voters to vote by mail, even as there are deep concerns about sluggish delivery times by the U.S. Postal service.
Enter the ballot drop-off boxes: 400 pounds of weatherproof galvanized steel equipped with hardened steel padlocks and special 44-gallon "MegaBins" for holding what is expected to be a surge of ballots.
The wide apply of the drib-off boxes is largely new ground for local ballot officials. 4 years ago, there were no such boxes, and merely a handful in most counties for this leap's primary — although election officials credited them as a success.
During the June primary ballot, there were v driblet boxes in Prince George'due south County, and about 42,000 voters — 16% of all primary voters — dropped their ballots in them.
"We anticipate that will quadruple — at least," said Alisha Alexander, elections administrator for Prince George's Canton, during a County Quango hearing last week. By Ballot 24-hour interval, there are plans for the canton to have 42 drop-off boxes.
The sheer number of boxes this go-round could present logistical challenges.
"These driblet boxes are very expensive to maintain," Alexander told the council. "They're No. 1 expensive, every bit a whole, to manufacture. They're expensive to transport … And in improver to that, we have to provide 24-hour physical security on each drib box."
In improver, elections workers volition exist tasked with retrieving ballots from the boxes multiple times a day.
Then far, though, things appear to be on track. Officials with the State Lath of Elections, which acquired the boxes from a visitor that produces recycling bins, said concluding week the commitment of the first wave of drib-off boxes this week is happening correct on schedule.
For their part, local elections officials are optimistic they tin can handle the challenges.
"Our goal is to secure those locations, empty out those bins," said Gilberto Zelaya, community engagement and public information officeholder for the Montgomery County Board of Elections. As important, he said, is for voters to make a programme for how they program to vote this year, given all the changes.
"If you lot do your part, we will practice ours; and we will secure your vote," Zelaya said.
More than ELECTION NEWS
- Sign upward for WTOP'southward elections newsletter
- DC election drop boxes: What you demand to know
- DC voter guide
- Maryland voter guide
- Virginia voter guide
- Presidential Election News
- Congressional Ballot News
- Local Politics and Elections News
Location, location, location
Crews started installing the outset wave of ballot drop-off boxes Monday.
Montgomery and Prince George's counties will each run into almost two dozen boxes installed this week, in high schools, community centers and fire departments — many of which will also open equally early voting locations next month.
You tin view the full listing of drop-off boxes in Montgomery Canton and Prince George's County online.
"When we selected these locations, we used measurements and data," Zelaya said of the process in Montgomery Canton. "We looked at density; we looked at socioeconomics; we'll look at traffic patterns. We only didn't … select the locations and drib a box — we're looking at traffic patterns, and likewise voting patterns."
By Ballot Twenty-four hours, 50 ballot drop-off boxes are expected to exist in Montgomery County, the most of any in the country. (In the June main, at that place were just seven in the county).
One time installed, the ballot boxes will need to exist emptied out — at to the lowest degree twice a solar day — by a bipartisan pair of election workers — either one Democrat and one Republican, or one Democrat and one independent, Zelaya said.
Some high-traffic boxes could be emptied even more oftentimes, he said.
As a prophylactic precaution against COVID-nineteen, all ballots will exist stored at the board of elections for 24 hours before they're sorted and scanned, Zelaya said.
When all the boxes are installed, and every bit Election Mean solar day creeps closer, the retrieval procedure probable means ballot workers will crisscross the county multiple times a day to hit every box.
Still, Zelaya said, the board of elections is used to orchestrating complex operations. In a normal year, the county would have to coordinate the running of 248 precincts, fully staffed with thousands of election judges and poll workers.
"And so emptying out l ballot drop boxes — that'due south an easy job," Zelaya said.
'Election boxes are secure'
Security might exist some other thing.
With the integrity of the election process at the pinnacle of everyone'south heed, local election boards are preparing a range of security measures to make sure ballots are protected.
The boxes are physically locked and election teams will seal the boxes with "tamper tape," that would allow election workers know if someone's tried to snoop around them.
The county has procedures in place if election workers observe evidence any of the boxes accept been meddled with.
In add-on, Zelaya said, all of the county's drop-off boxes would be under 24-hour video surveillance.
"We will do our due diligence. Look, it could be that a three-year-erstwhile walked upwardly to the election box and wanted to peel off that tamper record. … We will investigate."
He added, " Please rest assured the ballot drop boxes are secure."
Even so, Prince George'southward Canton is going with even stronger security measures. Alexander, the county's ballot administrator, told county lawmakers the board of elections plans to provide "24-hr concrete security" for each of the county's 42 drib boxes.
"And so that means we volition have someone present — either a deputy sheriff, park and planning police force, Academy of Maryland police, Urban center of Bowie constabulary — we will accept someone stationed at that driblet box 24 hours to brand sure that they're non tampered with," Alexander said. "This is the model that nosotros followed during the chief election. It worked very well. Only information technology is very expensive."
Overall, the lath of elections said all of the 2022 elections changes — including ballot drop-off box security — has acquired the county to get $three.v million over its planned budget.
'Not just some other saucepan'
The ballot driblet-off boxes in use across Maryland are existence cranked out at a manufacturing plant in North Carolina past RecyclingBin.com (tag line: "Not just another bucket"), which also manufactures recycling bins, wear donation boxes and other types of collection cases.
The state board of elections bought 75 bins from the company for the June primary. For the upcoming presidential election, state election officials ordered another 200.
"They came back for quite a few more," Scott Gardner, CEO and founder of RecyclingBin.com, told WTOP.
When the state reached out earlier this year for the starting time order of ballot drib-off boxes, Gardner said the company repurposed an existing design for its heavy-duty wear-donation bins to create the tamper-proof and highly secure box Maryland officials were seeking.
"It's made out of a heavy-gauge galvanized steel," Gardner said, and comes with hardened-steel padlocks and atmospheric condition-resistant exteriors. A large "bin-within-the-bin" volition hold the driblet-off ballot and is set up off the ground in case rainwater puddles around the bin, and a special hinged shield on the drop-off slot keeps rain from getting into the slot then the ballots stay prissy and dry.
Beyond the weather, what about pranksters or even more than nefarious events?
In Washington country last August, a man police described as existence on a rampage plowed his SUV into a ballot driblet-off box in the final days of a principal election there. The box, which was manufactured by a local Washington-based visitor, emerged practically unscathed with only some scratches and tire marks — and all the ballots were saved.
While simulating an SUV crash wasn't part of the blueprint phase, Gardner said his company's ballot boxes could likely withstand a lot of abuse.
"The steel on this bin is thicker than the steel on a car," he said, adding, "This is a staunch slice of steel."
Gardner'due south company produces collection bins used by the Conservancy Ground forces, Goodwill and the armed forces, amid other customers. But this is the first year the company has produced ballot drop-off boxes, he said.
So far, business is booming.
In improver to Maryland, the company is also at present supplying ballot drop-off boxes for D.C. and Fairfax County, Virginia, as well.
"We're seeing a surge at this time of year," Gardner said.
The company has staffed up to meet the demand and is hitting sped-up manufacturing deadlines.
"We're correct on schedule," he added.
Maryland is far from alone in its pursuit of ballot drop boxes.
Some states take used drop boxes for years — in Colorado, for instance, almost 75% of all voters cast their ballots four years ago using a drop box, co-ordinate to Stanford University law professor Nate Persily, one of the leading election law experts in the U.S.
This year, at least 35 states have already used or plan to employ ballot drop boxes this yr, "and their use in the upcoming ballot will likely exist the largest of whatsoever ballot in American history," Persily wrote in a memo provided to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Overall, Maryland spent more than than $439,000 on the boxes — most $1,500 per box. (Federal coin was used to purchase the 75 driblet-off boxes used in the master).
Because the ballot bins will only be exposed to the elements for a few weeks at a time, Gardner said, they will probable final the country for years.
Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.
Become breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing upward hither.
© 2022 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Surface area.
More from WTOP
Source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2020/10/ballot-drop-off-boxes-start-arriving-in-maryland-how-safe-is-your-vote/
0 Response to "Where Can I Drop Off My Ballot in Maryland"
Post a Comment