Marinette won't utilize drop boxes for primary election

MARINETTE — A set of best practices to ensure the security of unstaffed absentee ballot drop boxes won’t affect the City of Marinette.

City Clerk Lana Bero said the city last used a drop box in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our’s is a small drop box that we put in the front hallway (at City Hall),” she said. “A lot of bigger cities have like a mailbox or a drop box close to the Post Office. We did not utilize that. We utilized one in our front hallway — and our doors weren’t open at that time (during COVID). Our doors are open (now), so instead of people using the drop box they will bring them right into the city clerk’s office.

Bero said Marinette will not implement drop boxes for the Aug. 13 primary election.

“Come November, we may revisit it because things change,” she said.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a set of best practices that the state Supreme Court two weeks ago ruled could be installed for the elections.

The use of drop boxes became a partisan issue after Donald Trump lost to President Joe Biden in Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020, the Associated Press reported. Wisconsin is once again expected to be one of the few swing states this year, heightening attention to voting rules.

Since his defeat, Trump and Republicans have alleged that drop boxes in Wisconsin facilitated cheating, even though they offered no credible evidence, the AP said. Democrats, election officials and some Republicans argued the boxes are secure. An Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that could have affected the results in 2020.

The best practices approved Thursday, to be distributed to the state’s 1,800 local officials who administer elections, detail ways to make drop boxes and surrounding areas safe, well-lit and accessible to voters, according to the AP. The guidance also encourages clerks to empty drop boxes before they get full.

The guidance does not specify that the boxes be emptied on any type of regular interval, the AP reported. It also says recording when the drop box is emptied, who did it and how many ballots are retrieved is encouraged.

The guidance also recommends that the drop boxes be clearly marked and that any damage be documented and inspected to ensure the box can be safely used. Clerks were also encouraged to communicate to voters the locations of drop boxes and when the last ballot retrieval date will be.

The guidance for clerks is just that, the AP reported. The best practices are not mandatory.

The commission opted not to adopt an emergency rule, which carries the weight of law, and instead issued the guidance to clerks which is in response to questions that came in the wake of the court’s ruling last week.

The commission wanted to move quickly to explain the impact of the court’s ruling that allows for the use of unstaffed drop boxes in all future elections, including the Aug. 13 primary and Nov. 5 presidential election.