In Wisconsin, election officials push back against critics of drop boxes
Source: ABC News
October 14, 2024, 5:06 AM
George Dreckmann and his wife Diane are not just husband and wife. They are also "ballot buddies" in Madison, Wisconsin, tasked with emptying ballot drop boxes daily -- a routine that has been engulfed in controversy in the state over the past few years.
Ballot drop boxes, secure structures where people can safely submit a completed mail ballot, have been at the center of election conspiracy theories in Wisconsin since 2020, after a right-wing film falsely linked them to ballot stuffing. "We have specially trained ballot courier teams [and] we have a pretty strong chain of custody," Paulina Gutierrez, the new election administrator for Milwaukee, told ABC News' Deborah Roberts.
"We are following the best practices that have been provided by national and federal partners and also following the guidance of the Wisconsin Election Commission." "The drop boxes are secure," Dreckmann told ABC News. "We have a chain-of-custody system in place so that we know when we picked up the ballots and when we dropped them off."
The boxes were banned in the crucial swing state in 2022 by a conservative-leaning Wisconsin Supreme Court, but were reinstated by a liberal-controlled court this past July. But despite the court's recent ruling, some officials in the state are pushing back.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wisconsin-election-officials-push-back-critics-drop-boxes/story?id=114735681