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Drop boxes about to start popping up almost everywhere

Posted in:

• Illinois

* From earlier in the week…

Vernon Township today called on the Lake County Board to install a secure collection site at the early voting location in Vernon Township.

“It is the consensus of the Vernon Township Board that mobile drop-off locations for vote by mail and absentee ballots are an essential component of guaranteeing a free and fair election in November,” said Vernon Township Supervisor Jonathan Altenberg. “This is even more critical given the recent announcement by the U.S. Postal Service that it cannot guarantee ballots cast by mail for the November elections will arrive on time, possibly disqualifying votes.”

“The continuing COVID-19 crisis is creating fear among our citizens to be present at physical polling places both during early voting sessions and on election day,” continued Altenberg. “The Trump Administration’s continued attempts to undermine the basic operations of the U.S. Postal Service during the election has many in our community fearful their vote by mail ballots will not be counted if residents use the U.S. Postal Service which could have limited or non-existing capacity. The very integrity of our democracy hinges on the ability of our citizens to vote, and this ability is in question.”

Because of these concerns, the Vernon Township Board is kindly requesting that secure collection sites be installed at all early voting locations, including Vernon Township’s William E. Peterson Park building, with the following stipulations:

• The secure collection sites are securely affixed to the ground or to a building to avoid pilferage.
• The secure collection sites are securely locked to avoid tampering.
• The site be monitored either electronically or physically during certain drop off times.
• The secure collection site will allow for citizens to submit their ballots without having to leave their cars. (I.e., a system much like a postal mail box.)
• The boxes be emptied and secured daily at the close of polling places during early voting and on election day.

* Daily Herald…

Lake County will install 16 or 17 drop boxes for ballots at early voting sites, Chief Deputy Clerk Todd Govain said. The locations haven’t yet been finalized.

Here’s what they look like in McHenry County…

* Back to the Daily Herald…

More than 50 drop boxes for mail-in ballots will be installed throughout suburban Cook County. Sites will include the village halls in Arlington Heights, Barrington Hills, Elk Grove Village, Glenview, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Northbrook and Streamwood, as well as libraries in Des Plaines and Wheeling.

Two drop boxes will be securely installed at the DuPage County complex in Wheaton — one in the parking lot and one inside, Chief Deputy Clerk Adam Johnson said. Additionally, nearly 300 drop boxes will be placed at all early voting locations and Election Day polling places in the county, Johnson said. […]

Although his office is installing drop boxes for ballots, Kane County’s Cunningham thinks the issue has become political and is overblown. He’s confident in the postal service’s ability to deliver ballots on time and said a postal worker told him the expected increase in mailed ballots will be no worse than the extra business the agency gets at Christmas.

“They think they’re going to be able to handle it,” Cunningham said.

The concerns may be overblown, but always remember that people will say they want cuts until cuts happen, and then they hate cuts.

And on a purely political level, if the public thinks you’re responsible for the cuts, then people are gonna blame you every time their mail delivery is messed up. And even prior to any announced and unannounced cuts, the prospects of something wrong happening with the mail were pretty darned good because literally every household receives mail.

This was the wrong fight to pick at the absolute worst possible time, which is why they’ve seemed to back off. Even so…

* Related…

* Election Officials Plan For Influx of Mail-In Ballots With New Ballot Return Options: Chicago’s election agency plans to allow voters to drop off their mail-in ballots at all early voting sites starting in mid-October. In Champaign County, the county clerk plans to have up to six drop boxes for voters to put their ballots in through Election Day. In Morgan County in central Illinois, voters can return their ballots in a drop box set up for property taxes and traffic ticket payments when the county building was all but shut down at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

* Is Illinois Prepared for Mail-In Voting Boom? We Ask County Clerks

* Glenview Installing Ballot Drop Box For November Election - The Cook County Clerk’s Office announced Tuesday there will be more than 50 drop boxes around Cook County

* Winnebago County voters will be able to use drop box for ballots

* Sangamon County Democrats demand, Gray considering, use of ballot drop-boxes

* Vote by mail could be a mess, but not for the reasons President Trump says

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 12:21 pm

Comments

1. Drop boxes should be installed nationwide for those that have absentee or mail-in voting.

   Comment by No One Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 12:35 pm

2. Should go smooth as butter from here.

   Comment by Dotnonymous Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 12:50 pm

3. Is this going to generate complaints downstate?

   Comment by dan l Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 12:56 pm

4. Dropboxes for ballots make so much sense.

   Even in the best times, things happen with the mail. A couple of years ago, I received several pieces of mail that I should have gotten nearly a year earlier. I took them to the post office to try to figure out what was going on, and was told that they had likely fallen behind a sorter and were just found. I would not want that to happen to my ballot!

   Comment by JoanP Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 12:59 pm

5. We should do anything and everything that we can do to make voting easier. This falls squarely in that category.

   Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:03 pm

6. The picture of the drop box in McHenry County is the ONLY drop box in the county. The McHenry Co. Clerk has refused to install more drop boxes around the county or use temp. drop boxes at early voting sites.

   Comment by Woodstocker Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:05 pm

7. Per the Chicago Board of Elections, there will be a drop box at every early voting site citywide.

   Comment by Northsider Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:13 pm

8. More drop boxes the better. I have no problem with mail in ballots and think drop boxes a great idea. I have problems with ballot harvesting or 3rd parties collecting ballots
   But seriously I thought drop boxes were cut way back after 9-11 and Boston bombing

   Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:13 pm

9. == Is this going to generate complaints downstate?==

   lol, of course it is - what doesn’t generate complaints from downstate? Those folks think that every portion of daily life is either a government overreach, a government failure, or (most commonly) a massive communist conspiracy involving the deep state and George Soros. It’s why we can’t ever take them seriously on anything

   Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:16 pm

10. In McLean County, the County Clerk (who has jurisdiction for voting outside of the City of Bloomington) reported in today’s paper that she’s received more than 7,220 vote-by-mail applications, compared with the previous record high of 1,500 set for the March 2020 Primary.

    The county and City of Bloomington Election Commission will be using the Coliseum in downtown Bloomington as a mega polling place for voters. Lots of room for social distancing. The new state law mandates that all election authorities establish one location where all voters in the jurisdiction can cast ballots.

    No doubt there will be dropboxes at this location as well as others in the city and county.

    Comment by Nearly Normal Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:18 pm

11. Question, aren’t Postmarks part of the validity of Vote by Mail and Absentee ballots? If so do these get postmarked?

    I ask because it seems logical there will be a lot ballot challenges if this thing is tight. IMHO, the last thing this country needs is more conspiracy theories about who’s ballots are and aren’t being counted.

    Comment by Mason born Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:24 pm

12. ==Is this going to generate complaints downstate?==

    We’re a month out from Allen Skillicorn retweeting a claim that ballot drop boxes are actually way stations for adrenochrome harvesting. Maximum.

    Comment by Roadrager Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:28 pm

13. =Question, aren’t Postmarks part of the validity of Vote by Mail and Absentee ballots? If so do these get postmarked?=

    I’m thinkin’ the same thing.
    I don’t even trust that a ballot dropped off at the post office will get post-marked.
    I’m thinking……bring to post office and watch while they stamp it?
    Or just pack it in and vote early.

    Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:19 pm

14. I hope there’ll be a list of all legit dropbox addresses.
    Not that I don’t trust the president./s

    Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:21 pm

15. Drop boxes need to be indoors–so voters have the choice of an outdoor mailbox or an indoor drop box directly monitored by the counties (such as at an early voting site). To be absolutely sure your vote is in the system it’s best to vote in person either early or on election day and hear your ballot drop into the ballot box as it has finished scanning.

    Comment by Responsa Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:39 pm

16. I understand StClair and Macoupin County plan to have drop boxes.

    Comment by jimbo26 Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:48 pm

17. I think the way the vote by mail is written if dropped off at mail they have to be postmarked but also says you can drop off at election sites so I bet the argument is the drop boxes are Board of Election sites so they do not have to be postmarked. I would also think they would have to be locked up either when polls closed or at midnight.

    Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:53 pm

18. This is a random question I have: what’s actually being done to protect these drop boxes?

    We know we have at least one side of the presidential election that is actively trying to suppress voting and we also know that this same group is kind of conspiracy minded/easily activated. What’s to stop one of these people from going and tampering with the box?

    Comment by dan l Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 3:28 pm

19. Jack Cunningham paid actual money to hire consultant Rod McCulloch when he ran for Congress. Say no more.

    Comment by Kane Connection Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 4:36 pm

20. Plus, even if they backed off, they aren’t undoing the removal of the high-speed sorting machines. Leave voting rights aside: during a pandemic recession, slowing the mail is unconscionable. I’ve been doing mail runs for my work and the priority mail estimates the last couple of weeks to mid-size cities have doubled (2-3 days to 5-6). I wonder how many businesses had to switch to more expensive private services and/or lost customers to the likes of Amazon (which can handle the logistics/absorb the costs better).

    Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 4:42 pm

21. =during a pandemic recession, slowing the mail is unconscionable.=

    Absolutely, particularly as so many people rely on the mail to get their medications.

    Comment by JoanP Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 5:44 pm

22. Chicago’s famous election claim will now be: “Vote, early, often, and by mail a few times.”

    Comment by HighSox Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 9:45 pm

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