(TNS) — A state Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban drop boxes and satellite election offices where voters can turn in their mail-in ballots rather than relying on the Post Office.
The bill was approved by the state government committee by a 7-4 party-line vote. It was opposed by Democrats who disputed claims of intentional fraud involving drop boxes, and argued drop boxes are convenient and more reliable than the U.S. mail.
To take effect, the bill would still have to be approved by the full Senate and the state House, and then be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who supports drop boxes.
The bill, SB 99, was spearheaded by state Sen. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson County, who stressed the 2019 state law that made mail-in voting available to everyone doesn’t include drop boxes.
Since 2020, however, drop boxes have been used extensively in some counties, but not at all in many others, based on decisions by county officials.
Dush said it’s not his intent to take away convenience.
However, he said drop boxes “have not been created the way the law is supposed to be created. The ends do not justify the means. This lack of legislative oversight raises legitimate questions about their security and integrity.”
Dush also referred to examples of alleged fraud, including videos from drop box security cameras that appear to show people dropping off more than one ballot. The mail-in voting law specifies that no one can mail or otherwise deliver someone else’s ballot unless they are officially designated.
However, many experts consider the examples cited by Dush to be the result of honest mistakes that don’t involve fraud or impact the election outcome.
For example, a Republican district attorney who cited video examples purporting to show 288 people dropping off multiple ballots acknowledged it seemed to mostly involve people dropping off ballots for a spouse, rather than “stuffing” the box with fraudulent votes. No one was prosecuted.
Still, Republicans, including Dush, contend drop boxes can facilitate “harvesting,” which often refers to the illegal practice of coercing a vulnerable group of people into supporting a candidate, and then collecting and turning in their ballots.
Despite Republicans’ persistent calls for state residents to bring forth evidence of voting fraud, no examples of deliberate fraud that would impact an election have arisen.
Dush, as a member of the state House, was among those who signed a letter urging Congress not to certify Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election results, based on claims of widespread fraud that never materialized.
State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti, D-Mongomery/Delaware County, said claims of ballot stuffing have been “disproven.” She further argued dropboxes benefit people with physical disabilities, or whose lives lack “flexibility” to get to a polling place on Election Day, and eliminating them will “disenfranchise” those voters.
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton County, said that county has offered drop boxes at five locations and is adding two more.
She said all are located in county buildings or at a community college, are locked and continually monitored by video, with ballots removed and transported by county deputies.
Boscola further said mail from Northampton County is now routed through Harrisburg, which she said creates significant potential for delayed or lost ballots.
“We should be encouraging more of these drop boxes not less. It’s like having the armored car pick up your check and take it directly where you want it as opposed to dropping it in the mail,” she said.
Common Cause Pennsylvania, which supports drop boxes, said eliminating drop boxes is “a solution in search of a problem.”
“Ballot stuffing, ballot harvesting, and voter fraud are vanishingly rare. It is not helpful to eliminate secure voting options that work well for hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians over sensationalized, unfounded claims of fraud,” said Philip Hensley-Robin, the executive director of Common Cause.
