Election officials say ballot boxes It is a secure and accessible way for voters in many states to return mail ballots, but it has also been subject to numerous conspiracies and attacks from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

Some state that vote by mail first I had been using delivery boxes for a long time, but during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, more states offered them or expanded their use.

Tamper-proof boxes are often installed outside of places like election offices, libraries and other government buildings, and come with chain of custody and rules for how ballots will be collected. Many distribution boxes are kept under surveillance. Some experts note They ensure that ballots are returned more securely and faster than the postal service.

An Associated Press survey of most states found: There is no big problem with Dropboxes In the 2020 general elections.

But after Trump’s election defeat, the polls became the target of unsubstantiated accusations of fraud, including a claim popularized by right-wing commentator Dinesh D’ that Democrats stole the 2020 election by using ballot “mules” to fill ballot boxes with fraudulent ballots. Souza’s book and film 2000 Mules.

Allegations made 2000 Mules proven false by law enforcement, election officials, the media and his publisher stopped distribution of the film and book and apologized A Georgia voter accused of illegally dropping multiple ballots into a box.

What to expect in the 2024 elections?

Compared to 2020, fewer people will likely vote by mail in 2024; That’s partly because of the shift to in-person early voting and partly because some states (including key states) have imposed restrictions on requesting and returning ballots by mail.

In Georgia, for example, lawmakers greatly reduced the availability of drop boxes after the 2020 election, limiting the number of boxes that could be delivered and restricting access to early voting sites to only during early voting hours. 2022 NPR/WABE/Georgia Public Broadcasting analysis It found that the restrictions disproportionately affected access in larger counties that are home to more Democratic and nonwhite voters.

A new liberal-leaning state supreme court was installed in Wisconsin in July. Dropbox lifted its banbut Wisconsin election officials say: only some available this fallCompared to 2020.

Michigan, on the other hand, changed its rules to make voting by mail easier, including increasing ballot drop boxes, while Nevada moved to a universal vote-by-mail system, permanently adopting some changes made during the pandemic.

according to National Conference of State Legislatures27 states explicitly allow drop boxes, and 12 states (mostly in the South) do not.

Copyright 2024 NPR