It wasn’t your average political rally.
With the rhythm of a brass band providing the backbeat, a parade of people wearing vibrant blue cardboard boxes reading “Mail-In Ballot Drop Box” took to the steps of the former Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown, calling for officials to increase the number of drop boxes across the county.
Bucks’ three existing drop boxes are “woefully lagging behind surrounding counties,” Bonnie Chang told the enthusiastic crowd on June 2. The leader of Bucks Voices, a nonpartisan, grassroots voter engagement organization, said greater voter access is critical to democracy.
“I want to make it very clear,” said Chang. “Mail-in ballots provide an added safeguard to our election process by decreasing the vulnerability of only relying on in-person voting in this increasingly complex world.”
The activists want the three county commissioners, who also serve as the board of elections, to increase the number of drop boxes to “double digits,” according to Chang. By placing secure boxes at many of the county’s libraries, there could be upwards of 10 boxes in which voters could drop their ballots. “Thirteen would be very good,” Chang said. “But not as good as Delaware County, which has 44.”
Bucks Voices presented Bucks County Commissioner Vice Chairman Bob Harvie with a petition signed by more than 700 registered voters asking for additional drop boxes in time for the November midterm election.
As the crowd applauded, Harvie said, “People have been voting by mail for decades…accusations of fraud are rooted in voter suppression.”
To those who question the need for drop boxes, Chang asked, “Do you think the post office can handle a surge of 100,000 to 300,000 pieces of additional mail in a short period of time, be able to deliver the ballots to us, and then return them to the board of elections to be counted in time? Drop boxes are convenient to access and provide a viable alternative for voters to return their ballots.”
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