Labeled “official ballot drop-off boxes,” the metal boxes have not been vetted to satisfy the robust security requirements to safeguard the ballots inside.
California’s GOP is using the same legislation it sued to have repealed earlier this year to justify the use of unofficial, unsanctioned ballot boxes, which it installed all over the state.
Labeled “official ballot drop-off boxes,” the metal boxes have not been vetted to satisfy the robust security requirements to safeguard the ballots inside, according to the Washington Post.
“Operating unofficial ballot drop boxes—especially those misrepresented as official drop boxes—is not just misleading to voters, it’s a violation of state law,” California Secretary of State Alex Padilla told The Washington Post. “My office is coordinating with local officials to address the multiple reports of unauthorized ballot drop boxes. Californians should only use official ballot drop boxes that have been deployed and secured by their county elections office.”
Padilla’s office told media that erecting or advertising unofficial ballot boxes is a felony offense that carries a two-to-four-year prison sentence. Regional field director Jordan Tygh tweeted a picture of himself with a ballot in front of one of the boxes, according to the Post. “Doing my part and voting early,” he captioned the since-removed tweet. “DM me for convenient locations to drop your ballot off at!”
Locations for real ballot return boxes are listed on the California secretary of state website, but Republicans want voters to drop off completed ballots in the unofficial boxes, which are located at sites such as smog checkpoints and gas stations. They tried to justify the practice with a 2016 law passed by Democrats, which allows campaign volunteers and third-party advocates to collect completed ballots and drop them off en masse at polling places or election offices.
RELATED: Democrats Keep Ringing Alarms on Election Interference as Trump Distracts With Vote-by-Mail Lies
Proponents of ballot harvesting—when absentee ballots are collected from voters’ homes and dropped off at a polling place or election office by a third-party—say it can increase voter turnout by ensuring people with disabilities or those who have to work may still get their votes counted. But Republicans decried its potential for fraud as recently as this April, suing California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsome over the practice.
The difference, state election officials say, is that the ballot harvesting law requires hand-off to an authorized third party, and there is no such person manning the unsecured anonymous boxes.
According to a press release from the Orange County Registrar of Voters released Monday, tens of thousands of Californians have already cast their ballots using authorized drop boxes. Nationally, as of Friday, more than 76.7 million absentee ballots have already been requested or sent to voters in 44 states and the District of Columbia.
READ MORE: Election Day Could Turn Out to Be Election Month. Here’s What You Need to Know.
Emiene Wright Emiene Wright is associate editor at Cardinal & PIne. Before that she was on the 24-hour news desk of the Miami Herald and the Detroit Free Press, and her writing has been featured in Crisis, the Charlotte Observer, and Our State magazine.
